“The Purple Plain” was a British film that was
released in 1954 and did pretty well at the box office. Gregory Peck and the fact it was in color
probably were responsible for some of the success. It was directed by Robert Parish from a novel
by H.E. Bates. The movie was shot in Sri
Lanka and used some of the sites later used in “Bridge on the River Kwai”. The Royal Air Force cooperated with the use
of authentic Mosquitoes.
We are in Burma in 1945. Squadron Leader Forrester (Peck) is suffering
from mental instability due to the death of his wife in the “Blitz”. He has a death wish and everyone thinks he is
a “raving lunatic”. Everyone except the
base doctor who refuses the base commander’s wish to have him relieved. There’s a nice twist! Instead the doc takes him to a Burmese
village where Forrester meets a beautiful girl named Anna (Win Min Than). Love will conquer his mental problems. The relationship develops very briskly with
Anna pressuring him to commit. Another twist. Forrester promises to always come back to
her, thus eliminating any suspense over whether Gregory Peck’s character will
die with his romance unrequited. (Like
there was a good chance of that otherwise.)
Forrester is a changed man and his brain is fixed. Unfortunately, his engine is not and he
crashes on the very next mission.
Imagine the odds!
The crash is well done which is at odds with the rest
of the movies shoddy effects. Forrester,
Flight Officer Blore (Maurice Denham), and wounded navigator Carrington (Lyndon
Brook) are far from safety. Forrester
wants to press on, but Blore insists on staying with the wreckage. Peck points out to Denham which one of them
is the big star so they move on.
Excellent decision plot-wise.
Plus we get some nice scenery and the emoting you get when three
desperate men have to make a trek. Will
Forrester be true to his promise to return to Anna? Check out the year the movie was released for a clue.
This is an interesting movie. I had never heard of it and I am a Gregory
Peck fan. It is not one of his more
famous roles. It came between “Roman
Holiday” and “Moby Dick”. He dominates,
but Denham was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Actor. I think this was Win Min Than’s only movie. It is obvious she was an amateur, but she
holds her own and does the opposite of scene-chewing. The plot is a bit predictable, but the movie
is comfortable for a 1950s audience. Not
surprisingly, the PTSD issue is handled in too simplistic a way. Anna is one great therapist! Good thing due to the doctor’s bizarre lack
of concern that an insane, suicidal officer is leading men into combat. The cinematography stands out with a lot of
close-ups. Too close actually and too
many. Other than the crash, the effects
are those of models being pummeled by fake flak.
Antique or Classic?
Neither. Just a mildly
entertaining trifle.
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ReplyDeleteI refer to this movie as 'a technicolour dream', the vibrant colours of the movie being one of its biggest stars and selling points. I find that it is more of a love story than a war story even though it has an extremely well-balanced plot which can not be regarded in any way as being overly sentimental or 'mushy', the latter being a common complaint (mostly from male viewers) about a number of more recent war movies (e.g. Pearl Harbor) with that type of subject matter.
ReplyDeleteUnquestionably it is not the type of movie we are likely to ever see made again--unfortunately.
Thanks for your comments.
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