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poster of The Bamboo Prison
Rating: 6.4/10 by 8 users

The Bamboo Prison (1954)

A communist POW sides with his North Korean guards against his fellow prisoners.

Directing:
  • Lewis Seiler
Writing:
  • Edwin Blum
  • Jack DeWitt
  • Jack DeWitt
Stars:
Release Date: Tue, Jun 15, 1954

Rating: 6.4/10 by 8 users

Alternative Title:

Country:
United States of America
Language:
English
Runtime: 01 hour 19 minutes
Budget: $0
Revenue: $0

Plot Keyword: prisoner of war, korean war (1950-53), missionary priest

Robert Francis
MSgt. John A. Rand
Dianne Foster
Tanya Clayton
Brian Keith
Cpl. Brady
E.G. Marshall
Father Francis Dolan
Keye Luke
Comrade-Instructor Li Ching
Earle Hyman
Doc Jackson, medic
Richard Loo
Commandant Hsai Tung
Murray Matheson
Comrade Clayton
Pepe Hern
Ramírez
Robert Lynn
U.S. Colonel

CinemaSerf

Brian Keith is adequate here as the all-American "Brady" who is taken to a POW camp during the Korean War. It's there that encounters the ostensibly collaborative "Rand" (Robert Francis) who has befriended "Tanya" (Dianne Foster) who is, herself, married to another whose loyalties are distinctly questionable. Pretty quickly we learn that nobody is quite who they seem and with a backdrop of severe torture, manipulation and fear we find that each of the Americans now suspect the other and are constantly trying to vie for the upper hand - all under the outwardly benign gaze of "Fr. Dolan" (EG Marshall) who has, himself, been imprisoned by the communists. It's actually quite a simple story designed to highlight the atrocities carried out against the Allies by the commies despite the provisions of the Geneva Convention. It has plenty of plausibility issues, though. None of the prisoners look especially emaciated - clean shaven with Colgate smiles; the casting is pretty weak and the dialogue does little to develop the sense of peril that the imagery lays before us. There isn't much chemistry on display, either, and I found the on/off romance stuff just clogged up what could have been quite an intriguing fifth-column, who-to-trust affair. Essentially this is a piece of propaganda and though doubtless routed in aspects of truth, to some degree, it is just a bit too much of a blunt instrument for me.


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