House of Bamboo

This film was photographed...

in Tokyo, Yokohama

and the Japanese countryside.

The year is 1954.

This is a military supply train

en route from Kyoto to Tokyo.

It is guarded jointly by

American military personnel...

and Japanese security forces.

What's holding us up?

I don't know.

I'll take a look.

- Inspector Kita.

- Sorry, Mr. Ceram. No time for an interview now.

That train carried

American ammunition, didn't it?

Yes. I have already

notified Captain Hanson.

That's the story

I'd like to follow.

How the American army

and the Japanese police work together...

when American army

personnel is involved.

- Mind if I tag along?

- Perfectly all right.

The Japanese police were

in charge of the investigation.

But since an American soldier

had been killed in the robbery...

the Criminal Investigation Division

of the United States Military Police...

was called in for cooperation.

- Hello, Captain Hanson.

- Hello, Mr. Ceram.

The American sergeant is over here.

Hmm.

The engineer and the firemen and the two

other security guards were attacked.

The chain marks

are still on their necks.

- Chain marks?

- Yes.

- Are they dead?

- No, only the American sergeant.

Here.

The stolen equipment consisted of

five .50 caliber American machine guns...

and four boxes .50 caliber

ammunition belts,

five .30 caliber

American machine guns...

and four boxes .30 caliber

ammunition belts...

and, uh... two boxes

of smoke pots?

- Smoke pots? Are you sure of that?

- Yes.

I can understand them stealing

small arms and ammunition...

but what would they want

with smoke pots?

I wonder.

Sir, we've just had our

first lead of a tie-up...

with the killing of that

American sergeant five weeks ago...

- in the train holdup near Fujiyoshida.

- Let's have it.

An American civilian called Webber

was wounded an hour ago...

sticking up a factory payroll.

Instead of picking him up, one of his gang

pumped three bullets in him...

- and left him for dead.

- Where's the tie-up with the train holdup?

Ballistics report says

the three bullets in Webber...

came from the same gun that killed

the American sergeant on the train...

a P38.

- Is Webber still alive?

- Just about.

If he talks, those three bullets might give us

the answers we've been looking for.

They turned on you like a pack of wolves

when you were hit.

Why cover for them? Come on, Webber.

You're hurt worse than you think.

Who fired the P38,

killed the payroll guard?

And the American sergeant.

The same gun was used in both murders.

Who is Eddie Spanier, huh?

Eddie. Eddie Spanier.

You guys.

You're a million...

You're a million miles off.

He's got...

nothin'...

nothing to do with this.

- We were in the war together.

- What war?

Sticking up unarmed men

and old ladies?

According to this letter, he wants to join

you as soon as he gets out of prison.

Join you in what? What's the setup,

Webber? Who are the others?

Maybe this woman can tell us.

Mariko.

She doesn't know anything.

- She had nothing to do with this.

- Then what are you afraid she'll tell us?

She's got nothing to do

with this. Do you hear me?

- She's got nothin' to do with this.

Nothin', you hear me?

- Who is she?

- Nothin'.

- Who is she? Who is she?

- My wife.

- Your wife?

- Yes, I-I...

- That's not on the record.

Two months.

Two months. We've been

married two months.

Mariko.

Nobody knows.

We kept it on the q.t.

Nobody knows. Nobody knows.

Only her uncle.

Only her uncle and you.

Approximately

three weeks later...

a freighter from San Francisco

docked at the port of Yokohama.

Among others, it carried

a passenger listed as Eddie Spanier.

He headed directly for Tokyo.

His first stop was

at the Koksai Theater.

- They're only 40 minutes late.

- She's an hour late.

What difference does it make?

They said they'd show us the town, didn't they?

- They don't speak English.

- So what? We don't speak Japanese.

How do I get to the roof?

Uh, right up that way.

But I wouldn't go up there

now if I were you.

- Why not?

- They're rehearsing. They don't

like anybody up there now.

They got an elevator

or do I have to walk?

They've got an elevator.

Speak English?

Anybody speak a little English?

- Hai.

- Hi.

Hai means "yes."

I want to talk to Mariko.

Which one is she?

- Mariko-san?

- Mariko Nagoya.

Ah.

Oh.

Mariko-san does

not work here. No more.

Doesn't work here anymore?

Where's she work now?

Mariko-san gone way.

Not say sayonara.

- Huh?

- Sayonara means "good-bye."

Is Mariko Nagoya here?

Huh?

I'm looking for

Mariko Nagoya-Webber.

So she is in there?

I wanna go in there

and talk to her.

I just want to go in there

and talk to her.

I... I want to go in and talk to her.

Look, Mariko Nagoya.

- Nagoya.

- Is she in there?

Mariko Nagoya.

That's right.

Mariko Nagoya.

Oh, Nagoya Mariko.

You're Mariko Webber,

aren't you? Ah!

I won't hurt you.

I just want to know

where to find your husband.

I'm a friend of his.

Eddie Spanier.

You are Eddie Spanier.

When I heard you ask for me

in the bathhouse, I was frightened.

I had to run. I thought

you were one of them.

- Who did you think I was?

- One of the men who killed my husband.

- Killed him?

- He was shot down in the street.

He died in the hospital the next day.

I'm sorry to tell it to you like this.

Oh, that puts me in a great spot.

I came all the way from the States.

He wrote to come over.

That he had a deal cooking.

Was gonna cut me in.

Well, the news hit me below

the belt, Mrs. Webber.

Leaves me out on a limb.

Who shot him?

I don't know.

The newspaper said

he died without talking.

What about the police?

What'd they tell you?

- They don't know about me.

- Didn't you go to 'em?

No.

I don't get this. Your husband killed,

you don't go to the police?

The first thing anybody'd do.

Why didn't you go to them?

He made me promise never to let anyone

know we were married...

no matter what happened to him.

Why? Was he ashamed?

No. He had his reasons.

He never told me why.

Well, if it was such a big secret,

why did he write me about you?

I don't know.

Maybe because he trusted you.

How did it happen?

Why was he shot?

I don't understand it.

I still can't believe it.

The man I married was gentle, kind.

Oh, for two months it was

a paradise I always dreamed of.

And then the newspaper said

he was in a robbery...

and shot down by his own friend

and left in the street!

Take it easy. You'll be all right.

Take it easy.

I didn't know what to do.

I was afraid to go to the police.

I didn't go back to the theater.

I moved in with my uncle.

There was no one to go to,

no one to turn to.

I was mixed-up, ashamed.

I can't believe he was bad.

I couldn't have married a thief.

I didn't know he was in that deep.

He wrote me he managed a pachinko parlor

in the Asaksa district.

There's nothing wrong with that.

It's a legitimate business.

I didn't figure

he was in that deep.

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