Muscling In On Tokyo

Samuel Fuller is one of the most influential directors of all time but it's strangely difficult to find most of his movies. The Criterion Channel just added one of his more fascinating accomplishments, 1955's House of Bamboo. A disorienting and beautiful film noir purportedly shot entirely in Japan, it stars a surprisingly scruffy Robert Stack as an American searching Tokyo for answers.

In fact, he's from San Diego, just like me, as he reveals in one scene. It makes me want to not shave and to swagger around scowling at everyone. That's what he does, finally tracking down the beautiful wife of a recently deceased gangster.

We meet Mariko (Yoshiko Yamaguchi) in a bathhouse where Stack nearly busts in on her. He does get physical with her when he finally corners her in her home. Later in the film, this is all excused because it was all an elaborate act and Stack's on the side of the law. But what happened, happened, of course. Arguably, it's this kind of movie that Hitchcock's Vertigo was riffing on.

It's Robert Ryan as the head of the local mobsters who's the real star of this movie, giving a terrific performance as always. He has an amazing entrance, too, when Stack is thrown through a paper wall, winding up at Ryan's feet.

As Stack is accepted into the gang, the plot starts to borrow a bit from White Heat. It's a bit disappointing as it comes along with the gang of Americans having very little to do with the local Japanese. They don't even seem to speak Japanese. How have they managed to operate in Tokyo so long?

It's disappointing because the film is in many ways light years ahead of other American films of the period in terms of authenticity. It's not just shot in Tokyo, it really feels like Japan when Robert Stack is roaming the streets, roughing people up.

Fuller and his cinematographer come up with some amazing shots. I really liked the look of a heist at some kind of factory.

For some reason I really like this shot of the gangsters running in front of these nearly blank walls.

Among Ryan's gang are Cameron Mitchell and DeForest Kelley in small but very effective roles.

House of Bamboo is available on The Criterion Channel.