The Bamboo Prison

The Bamboo Prison was made just about the time I was conceived, but it's taken 60+ years for me to finally get around to seeing it. Unfortunately, the plot and script both seem to poke around aimlessly, searching for a hot button to engage the audience. Finally, it serves up Communism as the failed ideology that it is, but underscores this point with tedious dialogue and little else. (I used to love action filled war movies as a child, but this one would have had me begging to go play in the dirt in no time at all.) You might think that the combined talents of E. G. Marshall, Brian Keith, and Robert Francis would save this one, but their acting skill are no match for the clumsy cinematic execution of The Bamboo Prison. It's obvious that this film was produced with little regard to set dressing, make up, or special effects.

The prison camp set looks like left over buildings from Stalag 17 with some bamboo added here and there, the prisoners all appear very well fed and clothed, and the bombing raid depends on some stock footage of a Boeing dropping bombs which all happen to land in exactly the same area. Gun shots at a fleeing prisoner all land in a very straight line, evenly spaced, indicating little effort was spent planting the charges in the dirt for the impact effect.

While not exactly terrible, this film is probably best viewed while sorting your sock drawer, clipping your nails, or as a cure for insomnia. I was hoping to see acting by the principals on par with some of their other films (Robert Francis - Caine Mutiny, E.G. Marshall - !2 Angry Men, or even Brian Keith in the Parent Trap), but this was not to be. Still, I'm happy to have watched the film so I can avoid it in the future. Your mileage may vary.

I guess this is not MANDCHOURIAN CANDIDATE nor PRISONER OF WAR, back in 1954 and starring Ronnie Reagan, both pictures evoking prisoners of war in Korea. This one is just a tremendous time waster, a testimony of its time and period: the Cold War one. It is worth watching for the Leo Gordon's presence, for instance. Not a bad film and rather rare one too. Lewis Seiler gave us all kinds of films and topics, except science fiction. But I agree he lacked a bit of ambition to be as good as Don Siegel or Henry Hathaway. So, if you crave for Cold war, anto communist movies, this one is for you. Just a rare little gem, but not a jewel.

A really great, based on historical fact movie. The setting in a north korean prisoner of war (POW) camp. While it does not even begin to depict the horrendously brutal and sadistic treatment of our POWs, it does show a little. 1/3 of all American POWs in the 'conflict' died in captivity, most due to abuse and neglect. This movie centers around the cat and mouse game of intelligence, counter-intelligence/spy, counter spy/agents, double agents activity. Well worth the time to watch this movie about the horrors of 'progressive communism'.

The main asset of this muddled espionage business in a Chinese prison camp during the Korean War is the great good humour among the prisoners, who are amazingly cheerful all the way although that life in Chinese war prison camps must have been worse than hell, but they make it a sparkling entertainment by all their innovations, pranks, jokes and shows, giving almost the impression that it must have been a jolly ride to happen to be imprisoned there in such good company. Of course, the grimness and cruelty is also there, those Chinese guards and officers are not to be trifled with, they can't appreciate jokes, and when they find out they are having their legs pulled they start shooting. One of the best scenes is the great fight among the prisoners towards the end which plunges the whole camp into chaos, just to enable the escape of one prisoner, but that is really jolly good fun. The intrigue is interesting, the unexpected love affair offers some change to the greyness of prison life, and all the actors are convincing enough, especially the prisoners.

The Korean war is known at the "forgotten war" for good reason: People wanted to forget it ever happened. It wasn't popular and it had a less than satisfactory conclusion. As a result, there was not many films on the subject. On the 60th anniversary of the Korean war, TCM showed nearly 24 hours of films on the subject, and this was one of them.

"The Bamboo Prison" is a reasonable attempt to portray the horrors of PoW life for United Nations soldiers in a Chinese prison. Starring Robert Francis as a PoW turned collaborator on a secret mission, this film is filled with all the usual trappings of the anti communist hysteria. The cast is pretty well rounded out with Brian Keith as a fellow PoW, E.G. Marshall as a counterfeit priest, Murray Matheson as the Russian adviser, Diane Foster as his ballerina/communist traitor wife, and Richard Loo as the camp commandant. A young Aaron Spelling plays an uncredited role.

This film makes good fodder for the war film buff or the political historian, but not to be considered a cinematic masterpiece. Surely not a "Stalag 17" or "King Rat".