A really awful picture made at the height of the McCarthy era when many Hollywood talents were being blacklisted. The writing is cliched, trite, and derivitive (Stalag 17, Big Jim McLain) with broad stereotypes replacing characterization. The "acting" follows suit and the sets are cheap and unimaginative. And there's even a romance thrown in for the ladies in the audience!
shareIt's a terrible film and that is why it has a 7.4 rating?
Just because you have crap taste in films don't think that everyone does!!
Why are you judging a movie by an era that is 60 years past?
Cliched?? WAS it 'cliched' in 1950s?? If the star had not died at 25, he very well could have become a HUGE star, but in point of fact there were a number of actors in this movie who DID become big stars in their own right.
Communism has not lost its threat to our way of life, just fyi, even in 2012.
Life is a journey not a destination. Fear nothing.
I enjoy this movie, but let's face it, realistic it is not.
Yes, the horrors of the kind of abuse the North Koreans inflicted on American POWs were real enough, but unfortunately the studio had to jazz it up with a suave Russian commissar (which was a cliche, even in 1954), a fake murder/impersonation plot which is patently ridiculous, and silliest of all, this romance between a phony turncoat American and the commissar's beautiful wife. I mean, really, is anyone supposed to take all this seriously?
The fact that some of the cast went on to prominent careers has nothing whatsoever to do with whether the film is any good.
Likewise, the fact that it's anti-Communist is also irrelevant to whether it's good or not. It is possible to make a bad anti-Communist movie, and lots were certainly made. Unfortunately, too many people of all political stripes judge a film by whether they agree with its politics, not its artistic merits.
To say that "Communism has not lost its threat to our way of life...even in 2012" is highly debatable -- there have been quite a few changes in the world over the past 58 years, none of them good for Communism. Regardless, it's also irrelevant to whether this is a good movie.
What The Bamboo Prison is, is entertaining -- with an utterly preposterous plot, little relation to what really went on in a typical NK POW camp, and definitely cliched even by its contemporary standards, but an enjoyable way to spend 80 minutes...especially in 2012, when the film is a curious artifact of its era. And nothing wrong with being just that.
It is too bad that Robert Francis died so young. He could have had a great career. Interesting that in each of his four films he played military men.
I recall watching this film last year when it was last shown on TCM, and I was at least impressed enough with it to contribute the quote you will find under the "memorable quotes" section on the main page for the film (the exchange between Tanya and MSgt. Rand). That quote somehow meant a lot to me, and if anybody watches the film today, even nearly 60 years after it was made, it should still be a thought-provoking little tidbit that reflects at least *some* essence of the rift between capitalist and communist ideologies.
And I remember being a bit shocked to learn that Robert Francis (MSgt. Rand) had such a short life and short career. He died only about a year after this film was released. That was a real loss. And you're right... he could have had a great career.
Hello Eric-1226 -- I read the "memorable quote" you submitted and I must confess that while I find it a great quote, to me, it has nothing of any real meaning to convey. I find it funny, in its context. Yes, I agree, any "subversive" thought under a Red regime would have resulted in unhappy consequences for the utterer, but this is my central complaint about this movie: it takes a deadly serious issue, the atrocities committed by the North Koreans in their camps (which still goes on today, of course, except this pshycho-regime concentrates on its own people), and turns it into a melodramatic, frankly ludicrous tale. How much better it would have been without the idiotic (and laughably preposterous) romance, the cardboard Commies (and POWs), and all the histrionics.
That same year Ronald Reagan made a grimmer film on the same subject -- even with mostly the same plot -- called Prisoner of War, and while it also suffers from heavy doses of unreality and melodramatics, it was more realistic and on-target than The Bamboo Prison. (At least it doesn't have a Commissar's wife.) Still, its nuttiness makes TBP a more entertaining film to watch than Reagan's.
I saw that this film was released in December 1954, the same month that Robert Francis's second feature, They Rode West, debuted. His last film was The Long Gray Line, released in February, 1955, in which he was billed third after Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara. I don't know why Columbia, which had rushed him into those three films soon after he completed The Caine Mutiny, made no use of him in the months following TLGL. I never heard what movies he may have been scheduled for when he was killed. His death, on the afternoon of Sunday, July 31, 1955, when his borrowed private plane crashed (also killing his engineer and girlfriend), shocked everyone, but his loss was quickly eclipsed by the death of James Dean two months later.
I've always thought of Robert Francis as the sort of square, straightforward James Dean of the mid-50s. It's interesting to speculate on what his career would have been, had he not decided to go for that late-day spin in his pal's plane. After his and Dean's deaths, the studios began enforcing their clauses forbidding actors from engaging in hazardous hobbies.
I think what struck me about that exchange between Sgt. Rand and Tanya was the unexpected surprise of hearing Tanya reveal her true loyalties. I last saw the film more than a year ago, but IIRC, we (the viewers) did not really know that much about Tanya at this point, we didn't really know which side she came down on, but when she laid it on the line with Sgt. Rand, well, that sure cleared things up in a hurry! But yeah, you're absolutely right, the film was a fairy-tale of a story that did NOT do justice to the actual atrocities and horrors of war in the Korean conflict.
The Korean War seems to have been largely overlooked by Hollywood, maybe because it had such an inconclusive ending, and seemed to be void of all the great battles and victories of the previous WWII that would have played so well on the big screen. So maybe films such as The Bamboo Prison and The Steel Helmet and The Bridges at Toko-Ri are what we are left with? (I appreciate your list of other films to check out, and I will look for them on TCM, which is my main source of viewing such "vintage" films. You might want to look for "The Rack" (1956) starring Paul Newman and Lee Marvin, another unsettling Korean War-themed film which prompted me to add some memorable quotes to its page on IMDb).
And I'll look for Robert Francis in those other films, too. Sad about his "dangerous hobby." He reminded me of guys like Troy Donahue and Robert Wagner. To paraphrase Brando, he coulda' been somebody.
Korea was definitely a tougher sell -- politically, militarily and cinematically -- even to contemporary audiences, and it's pretty sad we put it behind us so fast...although, if you think about it, many films in the post-Korea years made references to the fact that some character had fought in Korea (Anatomy of a Murder, Ice Palace) or were films that took place during the Korean War, in whole or in part -- The Manchurian Candidate being the most famous example, but also others such as Men of the Fighting Lady, A Hill in Korea, Pork Chop Hill, The Hook, Battle Hymn, All the Young Men, The McConnell Story and many others. Obviously the subject kept popping up on film long after the war, whether we wanted it to or not.
I have The Bridges at Toko-Ri (one of the first post-Korea films) as well as The Rack, which I agree is very good and understated. I also have The Steel Helmet, which despite -- or maybe because of -- its low budget is I think perhaps the most powerful film of that war ever made (and made during the conflict to boot). Right after that film Sam Fuller got a contract with Fox and the first movie he did was a second straight Korean War drama, Fixed Bayonets. Though tamped down by its mainstream studio, it's still a pretty grim little film, not quite as good as Fuller's Steel Helmet but quite worthy in its own right.
I think Robert Francis was much more talented than Tab Hunter or Troy Donahue or many of the blond "hunks" who sprang up later in the 50s, and about the equal of Robert Wagner in acting ability. (Wagner is not a terribly great actor, but capable within his range, and a nice guy.) Francis to me was similar. I expect he'd have had a decent film career, with TV coming later on, though he might have ultimately done better away from Columbia. It would have been interesting to see how he would have fared in the 1970s and 80s, when he would have been in middle age and been doing mainly guest shots on TV shows, as his contemporaries mostly did. We can never know, of course, but I think this is a reasonable, if necessarily broad, projection.
Your mention of Sam Fuller brings to mind his film "Shock Corridor" (1963) which contained a memorable scene in which James Best had a vivid "Korea Flashback" moment. I remember when I first saw it, it was such an unsettling scene (you can even watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRzSnXGzNGU), and maybe it exemplified why the Korean War was a topic not much favored by Hollywood or the movie-going public at that time. Funny that even today, or at least fairly recently speaking, Hollywood is still cranking out big-budget WWII-themed epics such as "Saving Private Ryan," "Valkyrie" and "Inglorious Basterds," yet the Korean conflict gets not a single film devoted to it. It's as if the Korean War has become the Rodney Dangerfield of wars: hey, it don't get no respect!
Oh, and I recall "The Young Philadelphians" (1959) had a sort of tacked-on scenario about midway through that had Paul Newman's character doing brave duty somewhere on the front lines in Korea. It seemed pretty corny, but I guess they were trying to polish up any lingering image from his less than honorable character, Army Capt. Edward Hall Jr., in "The Rack" (1956) from a few years earlier. lol
WWII has had something of a revival of late, as members of "the greatest generation" pass away in ever greater numbers. But Korea is neglected in films today, and has been for years. It wasn't as "big" as World War II, of course, so in a way this is natural. Still, it got lots of mention in films in the decade after its end, until the Vietnam War superceded it, and probably discredited it too, as a somewhat similar conflict without a clear, satisfactory resolution.
Of course, Vietnam has been similarly neglected, although it still pops up in films today. But I think Korea might have gotten more cinematic mention in 1950-1964, say, than Vietnam has in the nearly 50 years since its (somewhat undefined) beginning.
As to Korean-War-themed movies, let us not forget the Vietnam-era M*A*S*H*, which has properly been said to be really more about 'Nam than Korea.
I well know The Young Philadelphians, but its Korean-War scene was more to show how Newman's pal (Robert Vaughn) loses his arm, the beginning of his downhill spiral culminating in his murder trial, defended by Paul. It's also a useful plot development to kill off Barbara Rush's husband, so she's free to marry Paul later on. Paul, of course, sails through all this unscathed.
Really good points you make, hobnob53. And yes... correct about the Korean War scene in "The Young Philadelphians" being more to showcase what happened to Robert Vaughn's character, and the start of his downward spiral. But I just couldn't help but recall Newman's "tarnished" image from that earlier Korean War-themed film "The Rack," so I've secretly allowed myself to think that the scene in TYP also helped sanitize his tarnished image. lol
Well, speaking of films dealing with the Korean War, I just today stumbled across two Korean War films that are going to be showing on cable in the very near future: the first is "Battle Hymn" (1957, with Rock Hudson) to be aired this coming Wednesday on the Retro channel, and "War Hunt" (1962, with John Saxon) which will be airing on July 12th on TCM.
It also just occurred to me that last Monday, June 25, was the 62nd anniversary of the start of the war. No films or other remembrances of the war on any channel I saw (History Channel and so on). Granted 62 isn't the usual "even" anniversary we normally mark, but still, you'd think there might have been something somewhere commemorating the date.
The 59th anniversary of the end of the war is in July -- I forget the precise date. That's not a number we usually mark, either, but I wonder if next summer, when we hit the 60th anniversary, some channels will note the date and run some appropriate programming on the war -- films, documentaries and the like.
I'm sure they make a big revisionist deal out of it in North Korea. The nerve of the war-mongering US and our South Korean puppets, viciously attacking the peaceful people's democratic republic. And accusing them of torturing helpless prisoners in freezing camps! They are a peace-loving people. But those Russian commissars sure had sexy wives. Lucky progressives!
you'd think there might have been something somewhere commemorating the date.
I wonder if next summer, when we hit the 60th anniversary, some channels will note the date and run some appropriate programming on the war -- films, documentaries and the like.
You do see Pearl Harbor stuff come up fairly frequently, including on its 70th anniversary last December, which had additional poignance because the Pearl Harbor Survivors' Association announced it would disband as of Dec. 31, as there were only around 700 men left, and few could make the trip to Hawaii any longer. Sad, but that's the inexorable march of time.
(I remember when the 50th anniversary was marked with much celebration in 1991, but then that was an obvious occasion to note. Do you recall that three months earlier, on Sept. 7, President Bush was giving a speech to some group -- I can't recall who, but I don't think it was veterans -- in which he started off by saying, "Today, September 7, 1991, marks the 50th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor." You could hear a lot of murmuring in the audience but of course no one interrupted him to ask, "What the hell are you talking about, George?!" After a few minutes Bush stopped, looked around, and asked quizzically, "Did I say September 7? I meant December 7," at which everybody laughed, probably in relief that he hadn't totally lost it. That was a very odd lapse.)
I know that Doolittle program on The Military Channel and also noticed they didn't show it on April 18. It seems they normally run it about every two weeks, so its absence then is all the more mystifying. And I also noted the absence of Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo on TCM, though that didn't surprise me too much.
One other film partially involving the Korean War is MacArthur. It's nowhere near as good as Patton, and suffers from a weak director and some bad dramatic and action set-ups, but Gregory Peck was superb in the role -- should have gotten an Oscar nomination. The portion devoted to Korea was a highlight, including of course Mac's dismissal by Truman for insubordination, which was the right call.
Actually, the anniversary of the start of a war is usually commemorated more than the end of it (except for something global like the world wars), so I think the nets missed the boat by not marking (as far as I remember) the 60th anniversary of Korea's beginning in 2010. 2015? 2025? I'm holding my breath!
^lol Now, that was a pretty embarrassing gaffe by President Bush, to have Sept. 7th confused with December 7th - "a day that will live in infamy."
I'll bet that was a pretty uncomfortable group of veterans that witnessed that! lol What's particularly odd about it, is that Pres. Bush himself actually fought in WWII as a Navy carrier pilot....
It kind of reminds me of various musicians who tour the country, stopping quickly at various cities in quick succession. Sometimes they get things mixed up, like, they're on stage in, say, Buffalo, NY, and the lead singer comes out and says "Hello, Cleveland!!" lol
Trivia: actor Jason Robards, Jr., who starred in Tora! Tora! Tora! in 1970, had actually been stationed at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, '41, as a 19-year-old Navy seaman. I find it interesting that 29 years later, he played the Army commander, Gen. Short, in the movie, making him appear as incompetent and unsympathetic as possible. Guess he remained a Navy man at heart!
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