Derek Winnert

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This article was written on 11 Mar 2016, and is filled under Reviews.

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House of Bamboo ***½ (1955, Robert Stack, Robert Ryan, Sessue Hayakawa, Brad Dexter, Shirley Yamaguchi, Cameron Mitchell, Biff Elliot) – Classic Movie Review 3465

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Cult writer-director Samuel Fuller’s good-looking 1955 film noir crime thriller about an American protection racket in Tokyo is commendably gritty, tough and edgy.

The always reliable actor Robert Stack stars as the undercover agent, US Army Investigator Eddie Kenner, aka Eddie Spanier, who is planted in a Tokyo crime syndicate and sets out to get the gang while probing the death of a fellow Army official. Robert Ryan also stars as the bad guy Sandy Dawson, Sessue Hayakawa plays the Japanese cop Inspector Kito and Brad Dexter the American Army man Captain Hanson.

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Screen-writer Harry Kleiner’s writing is impressively taut (Fuller is credited for additional dialogue) and Fuller’s handling is commendably tense, atmospheric and swift-moving. The 20th Century Fox studio big budget, the Japanese location filming, Joseph MacDonald’s CinemaScope De Luxe colour cinematography and Ryan’s electric performance as the villain are more big assets to the movie.

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It is based on a 1948 Richard Widmark film, The Street with No Name, also written by screen-writer Harry Kleiner.

Fuller appears as a Japanese policeman! Also in the cast are Shirley Yamaguchi, Cameron Mitchell, Biff Elliot, Sandro Giglio, Eiko Hanabusa, Harry Carey Jr, John Doucette, Fred Dale, Barry Coe, Peter Gray, DeForest Kelley and Joanna Mitchell.

Hayakawa’s dialogue is dubbed by the US-born actor Richard Loo.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3465

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/

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