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The Bamboo Prison

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6.4/10 • 8

1954-06-151h 19m

DramaWar

Did Sergeant Fall for Commie Cutie...Or Was He Pushed?

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

Directors
Lewis Seiler
Editors
Henry Batista

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Robert Francis

    Robert Francis

    MSgt. John A. Rand

  2. Dianne Foster

    Dianne Foster

    Tanya Clayton

  3. Brian Keith

    Brian Keith

    Cpl. Brady

  4. E.G. Marshall

    E.G. Marshall

    Father Francis Dolan

  5. Jack Kelly

    Jack Kelly

    Slade

  6. Keye Luke

    Keye Luke

    Comrade-Instructor Li Ching

  7. Jerome Courtland

    Jerome Courtland

    Arkansas

  8. Earle Hyman

    Earle Hyman

    Doc Jackson, medic

  9. Richard Loo

    Richard Loo

    Commandant Hsai Tung

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Apr 2, 2023

6/10

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.

Media

  • The Bamboo Prison poster
  • The Bamboo Prison poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
prisoner of warkorean war (1950-53)missionary priest