Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Five From A Favorite - House of Bamboo (1955)

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Sam Fuller's House of Bamboo is a sleek, haunting marriage of location and implication, revolving around the infiltration of cop Eddie Spanier (Robert Stack) into a band of Tokyo bank robbers led by Sandy Dawson (Robert Ryan). Hazy, insinuation-laden relationships develop, between both Eddie and Sandy, and Eddie and Mariko (a courtesan played by Shirley Yamaguchi), all the while beautiful, somber post-war Japan lurks in the background, filling every dazzling CinemaScope frame with muted dread. A masterpiece.

3 comments:

Peter Lenihan said...

Oh man we're completely on the same page here. One of Fuller's best pictures, and most underrated. That final carousel sequence is one of the best things he ever did.

Drew McIntosh said...

Couldn't agree with you more, Peter. That carousel climax is just the greatest, and is pretty much a pick 'em of gallery-worthy images (as is the entire movie for that matter.)

Jeff Duncanson said...

Ditto from me on the carousel sequence.