House of Bamboo (Sam Fuller, 1955)

Sandy Dawson: Who are you working for?
Eddie Kenner: [pretending to be Eddie Spanier] Spanier.
Sandy Dawson: Who's Spanier?
Eddie Kenner: Me.
Sandy Dawson: Who else you working for?
Eddie Kenner: Eddie.

Sergeant Kenner - posing as Eddie Kenner (Robert Stack) - tries to become a member of Sandy Dawson’s gang. Dawson (a role played by Robert Ryan who has a strong presence in the film) is the head of a violent gang formed by expatriate war veterans. Kenner is helped by Mariko (Shirley Yamaguchi); eventually he will win Dawson’s confidence (some critics see a hint of homosexuality in their relationship) and will try to warn the police about the gang future crimes.

This is an unusual film noir (a loose remake of The Street with no Name). It was filmed in Technicolor and the setting was Japan. There are stills with Mount Fuji, the Kamakura Buddha; Tokyo is the real stage where most of the action takes place. From our perspective the Japanese background may seem a little exotic and stereotyped but there are very beautiful stills (in fact the setting is one of the strong points of the movie) and there is also some hint of American violence towards Japanese society - the ending in the amusement park reinforces this idea.

The final climax on the bizarre park tower may have some resemblance with White Heat. Some gangsters may reach to the top but they are bound to fall…

Killer’s Kiss (Stanley Kubrick 1955)

Davy Gordon: It's crazy how you can get yourself in a mess sometimes and not even be able to think about it with any sense-and yet not be able to think about anything else. …Anyway, I think that's the way it began for me. Just before my fight with Rodriguez three days ago...

Davy (Jamie Smith) introduces us to the plot of the film (through a typically noir flashback). He is an unsuccessful boxer. He lives in a block of flats and from his window he can often see Irene (Gloria Pace), a dancer in a rundown club.

Her elder boss Vincent Rapallo (Frank Silveira) is in love with her. After being refused by Irene he attacks her but Davy witnesses the scene and rushes to help her neighbour. The couple fall in love and plan to leave the city and move to Seattle but Vincent hasn’t given up he is planning his revenge…

This is Kubrick’s second long movie (though it is just one hour long) and the last one with his own script. It was a low budget film – as Kubrick said: “Different people gave me backing for Killer's Kiss, which also lost half of its forty-thousand-dollar budget” and no first line actors could be hired.

The film is not one of the director’s best but it was an important step for the director: “I was cameraman, director, editor, assistant editor, sound effects man -- you name it, I did it. And it was invaluable experience”. The highly contrasted black and white scenes have some striking moments. Kubrick’s imprint can be traced in some sequences – we can mention the final scene with the fighting among the mannequins...

Davy: Anyway, I guess the whole thing was pretty silly... know a girl for two days and fall in love.