A Film Noir Trio: House of Bamboo (1955), Street with No Name (1948), and Cry Vengeance (1954)

January 22, 2016 | By

I went a bit overboard in what should’ve been a series of upgraded reviews to total rewrites for a pair of films that, like House of Strangers (1949) and Broken Lance (1954), represent a quirk in Twentieth Century-Fox’s production mindset once all major films were slated for Deluxe Color and CinemaScope: even if a previously story was just a few years old, a massive transposition made it viable for a remake.

The norm today is sequels, prequels, and remakes of better foreign films and TV series – building on an existing property or franchise with a pre-existing audience – but Fox, whom I doubt wasn’t alone, was comfortable redoing good stories in new genres if done right, and as the aforementioned classics confirmed, it was more than possible to overhaul a good tale into another gripping drama.

HouseOfBamboo_BRSo this set of reviews features The Street with No Name (1949), a great noir by William Keighley, and Sam Fuller’s nutty House of Bamboo (1955).

Both were previously released by Fox in special edition DVDs, and Twilight Time’s new Blu of Bamboo sports a gorgeous transfer, new commentary, and Leigh Harline’s great booming score in 5.1.

CryVengeance1954I’ve also added Cry Vengeance (1954), which Olive Films released on DVD and Blu a while back, because it’s another shot-on-location forgotten noir starring and directed by Street’s co-star, Mark Stevens. It’s not a classic, but it is a neat little revenge drama that also boasts a strong score by the underrated Paul Dunlap.

More goodies to follow this weekend,

 

 

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com

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