House of Bamboo – 1955 Fuller

Sam Fuller’s eighth film, and often noted as the first Hollywood film set in Japan after the WWII
It is a pretty far cry from the brilliance of Park Row and Pickup on South Street in 1952 and 1953 but a thoroughly engaging cinemascope on-location film noir that has merit

Fuller knows what he’s doing with that larger canvas right away- starts with an opening on a mountain laden with snow and a locomotive plowing through – a robbery takes place and we’re off and running
Robert Ryan is good here- Robert Stack just doesn’t have it. Give me Widmark or Gene Evans in that role. Sessue Hayakawa (River Kwai) has a small role but has his voiced dubbed for some reason
Early on there is a magnificent shot of a dead man’s feet in the foreground and mountain in the background

During a tense operating table interrogation with the police—Fuller opts for an overhead shot- brilliant choice of camera location and shot

The colorless omniscient narration (which drops off and is forgetting about) doesn’t feel like Fuller- feels like a bigger budget studio film
The bustling street noise of on-location shooting
Undercover cop/The Departed gangster film vibe with Robert Ryan in a few great wide angle shots surrounded by suited men. He’s commanding- very good performance as always from Ryan – nice shot of him in the shadow of a tunnel towards the end too