Richard Loo Movies

American POWs struggle to escape from a North Korean camp. While this is basically a remake of Stalag 17, it does feature interesting scenes of a North Korean brainwashing. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Hell and High Water brings an intriguing Cold War slant to a standard submarine melodrama. Richard Widmark plays a soldier-of-fortune sub commander who agrees to sell his services to noted atomic scientist Victor Francen and his assistant (and daughter) Bella Darvi. Francen intends to prove that the Communists intend to launch a nuclear attack on Korea from an Arctic island, then blame the attack on the United States. Widmark frankly doesn't give a fig about politics, but he is won over by the sincerity of Francen and his idealistic cohorts, and by the beauty of Ms. Darvi. Before the Reds' evil intentions can be thwarted, however, Widmark must face down a Communist Chinese submarine loaded with highly volatile atomic weaponry. The special effects are very impressive, especially for a mid-1950s 20th Century-Fox production. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a true story, 5 Fingers stars James Mason as a man known to his superiors only as Cicero. Ostensibly the valet of the British ambassador to Ankara during World War II, Cicero is actually a Nazi agent. He holds no particular political viewpoint: the Nazis offered the best price, so for the time being he is loyal to them. Falling in love with the beautiful Danielle Darrieux, Cicero uses her home as a contact point to meet his German associates. At great personal risk, Cicero secures secret British war files and smuggles them to the Germans; they find the information in the files too far-fetched to be taken seriously--and thus are caught unawares on the morning of the D-Day invasion. An ironic coda finds Cicero, setting himself up in luxury in Rio de Janeiro, double-crossed by both Darrieux and the Germans. What else can he do but laugh uproariously? 5 Fingers, based on the memoirs of the real-life "Cicero" L. C. Moyzisch, was adapted into a 1959 TV series, wherein the antihero was converted into a 100% good guy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Writer and director Samuel Fuller enjoyed his first box-office and critical success with this hard-boiled but human tale of men at war, informed by his own experiences in the armed forces. Zack (Gene Evans) is a gruff U.S. Army sergeant who is the lone survivor of an attack on his outfit in North Korea. Rescued by a friendly Korean orphan he dubs Short Round (William Chun), Zack tries to make his way back to friendly territory with the boy as his guide. Zack crosses paths with Thompson (James Edwards), an African-American medic who like Zack narrowly escaped death after an enemy attack, and as they make their way through the jungle they encounter a platoon led by Lt. Driscoll (Steve Brodie), a humorless by-the-books type who has no use for Zack. Zack, Thompson and Driscoll's men -- among them Japanese-American "Buddhahead" Tanaka (Richard Loo), former conscientious objector Bronte (Robert Hutton) and nervous grunt Baldie (Richard Monahan) -- make their way to an abandoned Buddhist temple to set up an observation post, but they soon run afoul of the enemy. Shot in a mere ten days, with the battle scenes staged in Los Angeles' Griffith Park, The Steel Helmet captured the tension and gritty circumstances of war with commendable accuracy and Evans delivered a superb performance in his first starring role as Zack. The film proved controversial in some quarters due to scenes in which Fuller's characters discuss racism against Asians and Blacks in the United States, though the film manages to be resolutely patriotic at the same time. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

I Was an American Spy is a true story, based on a series of autobiographical Reader's Digest articles written by Claire Phillips. Ann Dvorak stars as Ms. Phillips, an American nightclub singer trapped in Singapore when the Japanese march in. Having lost her husband to the Bataan death march, Phillips agrees to join an American secret agent (Gene Evans) in undermining the Japanese occupation troops. She is captured by the enemy, tortured, and sentenced to be shot, but is rescued at the last minute by her American contact. I Was an American Spy handles its more brutal scenes with a marked degree of tastefulness, thanks to the careful direction of Lesley Selander. Just as in their wartime movie appearances, Chinese actor Richard Loo and Korean actor Philip Ahn are eminently hissable as the Japanese villains. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Spencer Tracy and James Stewart team up for this World War II adventure, based on an supposedly true incident from World War II. Stewart plays John Royer, an ex-newspaper reporter with a backhand knowledge of Malaya, and Tracy plays a criminal named Carnaghan, doing time in Alcatraz for smuggling. They are brought together for an undercover assignment -- to smuggle a large shipment of rubber out of Japanese-held territory in Malaya and deliver the tonnage to awaiting U.S. ships. Carnaghan and Royer plod through the jungles and have to deal with several unscrupulous contacts including a man calling himself The Dutchman (Sydney Greenstreet), a helpful FBI agent named Kellar (John Hodiak), and a sneaky Japanese officer by the name of Colonel Tomura (Richard Loo). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this mystery, a detective encounters a woman in a nightclub. He finds that she is being blackmailed by a dancer who is murdered that very night. Of course, the woman becomes the main suspect. She and the gumshoe team up and begin searching for the real killer. The police are in hot pursuit. It does not take them long to find the culprit. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The scene is Shanghai: the time, WW II. An international group of women left stranded during the Japanese invasion are rounded up by the local authorities to act as "comfort girls" for high-ranking Nazi and Japanese officials. Bridling at this degrading treatment, the ladies secretly work on behalf of the Chinese Underground, relaying vital information to the Allies and, at one point, committing murder in the name of Democracy. The plot thickens with the introduction of a Nazi "cosmic ray" device, which OSS operative Van Arnheim (William Henry) hopes to destroy before it can be used in battle. Van Arnheim's courageous wife is played by Virginia Christine, light-years removed from her stint as "Mrs. Olsen" in the Folger's Coffee TV commercials. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Even when decked out in a Foreign Legion uniform, Dick Powell looked, talked and acted like an urban private eye. In Rogues' Regiment, American secret agent Whit Corbett (Dick Powell) joins the Legion in order to track down Nazi war criminal Carl Reicher (Stephen McNally) in French Indo-China. Hampering his search is a native uprising which consumes most of the film's running time. Vincent Price contributes an amusingly despicable supporting role as Mark Van Ratten, an erudite art collector who sidelines in gunrunning. Though Dick Powell doesn't get to sing (not that he really wanted to!), leading-lady Marta Toren offers two sultry nightclub numbers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An unimportant but likeable Republic drama, Web of Danger revolves around the rivalry between two hardhat bridge-builders. Ernie (Bill Kennedy) and Bill (Damian O'Flynn) spend most of the footage duking it out, usually over a "dame". But when the chips are down, our heroes work side by side to complete the bridge on time. The climax finds Ernie, Bill and their coworkers rushing to finish a bridge in order to evacuate a flooded valley (courtesy of generous stock footage from previous Republic epics). Adele Mara plays the romantic bone of contention between the two pugnacious protagonists. For the record, director Phillip Ford was the nephew of John Ford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This WW II drama is the first to deal with the fateful atomic bomb attack on Japan. Originally, the film centered on the acquisition of a new kind of gun, but as it was in production during the time the Bomb was dropped, the producers were quick to change the story to suit the times. It tells the story of a straight-arrow American pilot who was raised in Japan and is asked to return there to get a captured scientist to garner valuable information about the A-bomb. The pilot, Major Ross, realizes that he will not survive the mission, but as he has just lost his lover, he cares little for life. Before he goes, his face is surgically altered so he looks Japanese and he then infiltrates the camp where the scientist is being held. There he finds his girl friend, an army nurse, who has also been captured. Unfortunately, she has fallen in love with a fellow inmate. The determined Major Ross remains focused and completes his mission, but not before encountering considerable danger at the hands of enemy officers. The end of the film features actual newsreel footage of nuclear bombings from Pathe. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this WW II drama, American POWs aboard a Japanese ship revolt when they learn that their vessel is to used as a decoy for an American submarine. The rebellion is quite bloody and 30 women and children die before the Yankees break into the radio room and announce their presence to the oncoming submarine. Shots are fired, but at last the Americans beat the Japanese and are rescued. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Based on the novel by A.J. Cronin, The Keys of the Kingdom was the first big-budget effort of movie-newcomer Gregory Peck. This is the 137-minute chronicle of a Scottish priest (Peck), who is assigned a mission in China. Never very focused in his life or work, the priest finds plenty to keep his mind occupied in his new post; when he isn't coping with the starvation and poverty plaguing his flock, he must contend with China's bloody civil war. Nonetheless, he perseveres, and finds it difficult as an elderly man to retire. He returns to Scotland, where he finds a new purpose in life; that of ministering to youngsters who, like him, have trouble determining their place in the world. Keys of the Kingdom was one of the last 20th-Century-Fox films produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz before his career-shift to directing; Rose Stradner, Mankiewicz' then-wife, has an important role in the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide