7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Planted in a Tokyo crime syndicate, a U.S. Army Investigator attempts to probe the coinciding death of a fellow Army official.
Starring: Robert Ryan (I), Robert Stack, Cameron Mitchell, Brad Dexter, Sessue HayakawaDrama | 100% |
Film-Noir | 68% |
Crime | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.55:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.55:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Music: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
There’s an almost delirious intensity to the films of Samuel Fuller that some folks love and others never quite seem to get. Fuller’s tough, no nonsense narrative style has often been compared to pulp fiction of yore, and there’s a no frills ethos to much of the auteur’s work that is unmistakably his, in works as disparate in content if not in style and tone as Pickup on South Street, China Gate, The Naked Kiss, The Big Red One and even (dare I say it) Shark!. While Fuller is remembered now as something of an outsider, an iconoclast who never was quite able to matriculate easily into the vagaries of a traditional Hollywood career, it’s perhaps notable to recognize that for a while at least he was offered stability of a sort by none other than Daryl F. Zanuck, another tough as nails type who probably appreciated Fuller’s take no prisoners attitude better than some other studio honchos might have. It was during Fuller’s tenure at 20th Century Fox that House of Bamboo was released, and if one can sense a certain subtextual disconnect between a big budget studio effort trying to capitalize on an exotic setting and Fuller’s scrappier instincts, there’s a lot of fascinating material at hand in the film, not the least of which is its rather piquant homoeroticism, something that may or may not have zinged right by the heads of censors and machismo infused guys like Zanuck himself.
House of Bamboo is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.55:1. Reportedly culled from a new 4K scan, the presentation here is crisp and precise looking, albeit with a few slightly soft looking "baked in" anomalies that might be due to then still nascent technologies involving lenses utilized for early CinemaScope productions (a quick perusal of the screenshots accompanying this review show a slight but noticeable variance in sharpness throughout various portions of certain frames). There's been quite a bit of discussion concerning "blue push" on a number of Fox releases, but the palette here looks generally accurate, with clear, clean whites (see screenshots 8 and 13 for some examples) and good reproductions across a gamut of hues. There is a prevalence of blue throughout the film, as was also the case in The Best of Everything, but part of that at least is due to production design or indeed the natural phenomena on display. Grain resolves naturally and always looks organic, and there are no issues with image instability. Restorative efforts have delivered elements free of any distractions like scratches.
House of Bamboo's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix offers a good spread for Leigh Harline's rather lush (and occasionally ethnically tinged) score, as well as good placement of ambient environmental effects and even some decently directional dialogue, but it tends to be a fairly front heavy mix a lot of the time. Fidelity is excellent and there's reasonable dynamic range for this rather talky enterprise, courtesy of a couple of fight scenes and the requisite shootout which caps the film. There are no problems with distortions, dropouts or other age related issues.
- Alain Silver and James Ursini
- Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman
Fuller fans will no doubt lap up House of Bamboo with alacrity, while those who haven't quite understood what all the fuss about Fuller is/was about may be scratching their heads at some of the weirdnesses of this film. One way or the other House of Bamboo is a fascinating example of a willful filmmaker skirting all sorts of contentious issues with a bit of a wink (and maybe a smirk), while also offering a rather luscious view of a surprisingly scenic post war Tokyo. Performances are excellent, especially Robert Ryan who manages to command the screen with little more than a cocked eyebrow (no pun intended). Technical merits are excellent and House of Bamboo comes Recommended.
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