The Bamboo Prison

The Bamboo Prison is a 1954 American Korean War war–drama film directed by Lewis Seiler and starring Robert Francis, Brian Keith, Dianne Foster and Jerome Courtland. The working title was I Was a Prisoner in Korea. The US Army denied their co-operation with the producers.[1]

The Bamboo Prison
Directed byLewis Seiler
Produced byBryan Foy
Written byEdwin Blum
Jack DeWitt
Starring
CinematographyBurnett Guffey
Edited byHenry Batista
Color processBlack and white
Production
company
Columbia Pictures
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • December 1954 (1954-12)
Running time
79 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Due to the clear communist sympathies within the film, several US cities banned it, although it was said that Sgt. Rand was actually a spy for the US, pretending to be a sympathizer.[2]

The brainwashing and abuse of American prisoners of war during the Korean War was also dramatized in P.O.W. (1953), Prisoner of War (1954, starring Ronald Reagan), and The Manchurian Candidate (1962, starring Frank Sinatra).

Plot

A group of American soldiers are held in a prisoner of war camp in North Korea in the final phase of the Korean War.

Prisoners who show sympathy with the communist cause are given special privileges but are understandably hated by the other prisoners, who see them as traitors.

The camp "brain-washer", Comrade Clayton, is permitted to have his beautiful Russian wife, Tanya, live in camp. Sergeant Rand, one of the communist sympathizers (known as Progressives), falls in love with her, and his special privileges permit him to go to her house. However, she is not a communist sympathizer.

Meanwhile the camp priest, Father Dolan, is actually an impostor, trying to glean information through confession.

Despite their differences, Rand helps his rival, Corporal Brady, to escape.

At the end of the war, Sgt. Rand stays in Korea, as he is disillusioned with the capitalist system and its exploitation of the working man.

Cast

References
  1. p. 65 Young, Charles S. Name, Rank, and Serial Number: Exploiting Korean War POWs at Home and Abroad Oxford University Press, 1 Apr 2014
  2. Hollywood Diplomacy H S Chung

List of films set in or about North Korea


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