Fuller at Fox: Five Films, 1951-1957
A towering figure of American cinema, Samuel Fuller was a master of the B-movie, a pulp maestro whose iconoclastic vision elevated the American genre film to new heights. After the major success of The Steel Helmet, Fuller was put under contract by Twentieth Century Fox after being impressed by Darryl F. Zanuck s direct sales pitch (other studios offered Fuller money and tax shelters; Zanuck simply told him, We make better movies. ).
Over a six-year period, Fuller would produce some of the best work of his career, an uncompromising series of masterpieces spanning multiple genres (the Western, the War film, film noir, the Crime-Thriller) that would establish the director as a true auteur, whose influence continues to be felt today.
Collected here are five films from this fruitful period, all presented from stunning restorations. The impossibly tense Korean-War drama Fixed Bayonets! (1951); the outrageous and confrontational spy-thriller Pickup on South Street (1953); the Cold War submarine-actioner Hell and High Water (1954); the lushly photographed, cold-as-ice noir, House of Bamboo (1955); and the audacious Western with a feminist twist, Forty Guns (1957). Also included is Samantha Fuller s 2013 documentary, A Fuller Life, featuring friends and admirers of the great director reading extracts from his memoirs.
Details by Film
Fixed Bayonets!
Pickup on South Street
Hell and High Water
Streaming Options
House of Bamboo
Hell and High Water
"In the summer of 1953, it was announced that an atomic bomb of foreign origin had been exploded somewhere outside of the United States... This is the story of that explosion. " Starting with a nuclear explosion and only escalating from there, Hell and High Water is a white-knuckle Cold War thriller that would have a huge influence on the future of blockbuster cinema (Steven Spielberg was so enamoured with the film that he kept a print in his car for many years).
When military intelligence suggests a secret atomic base is being covertly set-up on an island near Japan, former US Navy commander Adam Jones (Richard Widmark) is sent on a covert mission to prevent a nuclear attack that could trigger World War 3.
The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Samuel Fuller s Hell and High Water on Blu-ray from a stunning 4K restoration.
House of Bamboo
"What about Japan? " asked Zanuck. "Would you like to shoot a picture there? " "Holy mackerel, Darryl, now you re talking! " When offered the opportunity to film an entire movie in Japan, (Fox would be the first major American studio to do so) Samuel Fuller jumped at the opportunity and the result is House of Bamboo, a lushly photographed, cold-as-ice film noir like no other.
Japan, 1954. A military train is robbed of its cargo by a ruthless gang of professionals led by the sadistic, but brilliant, Sandy Dawson (the incomparable Robert Ryan). Weeks later, one of the thieves lies dying in a Tokyo hospital, shot by his own accomplices. Recently released convict Eddie Spanier (Robert Stack) arrives in Tokyo, and joins up with the gang, impressing Sandy so much he quickly becomes his "ichiban" (number one man), greatly displeasing the former favourite, Griff (Cameron Mitchell). But is Eddie all he seems?
Also starring the beautiful Shirley Yamaguchi, House of Bamboo is a stunning, brutal masterpiece, featuring incredible widescreen photography by Joe MacDonald, and hard-boiled dialogue and action that is the Fuller trademark.
Release Information:
Technical Specifications
Supplements
- Video interview with critic François Guérif
- Audio interview with Samuel Fuller from 1969 at the National Film Theatre in London
- Audio commentary by film scholar Adrian Martin
- Brand new audio commentary by author Scott Harrison
- Audio commentary with Film Historians Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman
- A 100-PAGE PERFECT BOUND COLLECTOR'S BOOK featuring essays by Richard Combs, Murielle Joudet, Philip Kemp, Glenn Kenny, and Amy Simmons; excerpts from Fuller's autobiography A Third Face; and rare imagery
- Episode of Biography: Richard Widmark: Strength of Characters
- New video interview with critic, filmmaker, and programmer Kent Jones
- Video interview with film critic Jean-Louis Leutrat
- Original theatrical trailer
- Audio commentary with Film historians Alain Silver and James Ursini
- Excerpts from the Cinéma cinémas series with Samuel Fuller discussing the making of the film
- A Fuller Life (2013), a feature-length documentary by Samantha Fuller about her father, featuring admirers and collaborators Wim Wenders, William Friedkin, Mark Hamill, James Franco, Monte Hellman, Jennifer Beals, Bill Duke, Constance Towers, and others
- Gallery of production and publicity photos
- Original theatrical trailer
- Isolated music score
- Original theatrical trailer
- Fuller at Fox: a video essay by David Cairns looking at Samuel Fuller s films produced for Twentieth Century Fox
- Original theatrical trailer