Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

Absolutely brilliant

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

In one of the oddest casting choices in film history (and of a certain legend's career), the role usually played by Maria Montez is taken over by...Barbara Stanwyck??? She's the matriarch of a Burmese plantation who welcomes strangers into her house with open arms (and apparently an open bar), not even checking their references. The moment alleged killer Robert Ryan shows up, she's eying him up and down like a search light, offering him a second drink just as he's chugged down his first.She's just inspected the elephants and the men who use them to work in the jungles and fired one of them for repeatedly abusing the elder of the pack. This Elephant Queen of Burma treats the riders well, and immediately places a Sabu-like youngster on the back of the abused pachyderm, promising him great rewards if he does his job well. But the natives believe that evil spirited tiger has killed an elephant in the jungle, and Stanwyck heads out there with Ryan to prove that it was a real tiger, not some invisible spook with the power to kill beasts of burden three times the size of real tigers.On the search for Ryan is David Farrar, hired by the ruler of Burma to find the man they believe killed the prince. Ryan and Stanwyck encounter Farrar after their return from the jungle and this leads to another jaunt into the tropical forest where they encounter bandits and an oncoming monsoon. The three of them are forced to spend the night in an abandoned ancient ruins where chimps, orangutans and other assorted small monkeys reside. Before you can say, "Me Tarzan, You Jane", the king's men are on the march, having arrested one of the bandits who is in possession of one of the late princes' bracelet.Unbelievable adventure in the realm of Maria Montez/Yvonne de Carlo adventures of the 1940's (with a touch of "Elephant Walk" thrown in), this seems totally out of Stanwyck's element, and even her performance seems out of whack, sometimes so kindly you'd think she'd never played all those deadly film noir vixens. Visions of various jungle animals (including the deadly tiger as well as a black panther) add to the colorful vision of this jungle paradise, and the audacious set design is equally camp in its presentation. "You two men make me prefer the company of elephants!", she barks at one point to the fighting men, and certainly, her pachyderm pals are as loyal to her as her servants. Much of the acting of the mostly British cast playing the Burmese is amateurish and silly, but this isn't without its compensation. I've never had so much fun laughing at a Barbara Stanwyck movie in my life, and it wasn't one of her classic screwball comedies.

Barbara Stawyck, Robert Ryan, and David Farrar star in "Escape to Burma," an escapist over-the-top adventure. We open in court and the king is throwing his weight around, telling David Farrar to find Robert Ryan, who has been identified as the one who shot the prince. From the get go, I couldn't stop laughing at the music. It all seemed like an Arabian music video. After ten minutes or so, it got serious and David went on his way through the jungle and vast lands to get his man, and we see Robert Ryan battling the brush (on a stage set, maybe) to run from the law. Along the way, he meets Barbara and makes a conquest. After falling for him, she decided he couldn't possibly be as mean as he's purported to be. So she defends him. Will she fight for her man to the death? Is Robert wrongfully accused? While the film does manage to keep your attention in this anything-can-happen (and will) unintentionally funny and campy film, it still feels like an embarrassment to all considered and is far from the best material that any of the stars have been in. (By the way, anyone looking for quicksand, crocodiles and piranhas won't get them here.) If you love obvious eye-candy adventures, then this is a quick fix for you with no thinking involved.

The BBC aired this recently and as it was directed by super veteran Allan Dwan I happened to tape it.Ryan plays the typical US macho hero of the fifties, a fightin',shootin'(a Luger no less!) and kissin'guy. Mrs. Stanwyck is the owner of a plantation near Rangoon and she is not to be messed with. Third character is your run-of-the mill British, slightly repressed policeman, on the hunt for Ryan who supposedly has murdered the son of the local potentate.If you are a fan of Dwan's work better skip this one. The only good thing about it is the crisp clear color photography, the rest is pretty embarrassing. Clichéd would be putting it mildly. The script seems to be written in an afternoon and the same can be said of the movie itself.It is a bit unfair to Allan Dwan, as he made countless movies and still turned out some excellent stuff near the end of his very long career, as the classic marine epic "The Sands of Iwo Jima" and the sexy "Slightly Scarlet". So do not judge him on this silly jungle epic.

I suspect you have to possess a highly-developed sense of camp to truly appreciate "Escape to Burma".Judged by nearly all conventional standards it is quite dreadful.Poverty Row production values,laughable performances, sub "Sanders of the River" script and a storyline William S.Hart would have rejected as being old-hat are all presented with a straight face. It was made by a man who directed his first film in 1911 and who lived to see Ronald Reagan become president.Ludicrously considered by some back in the sixties as an auteur,Mr Alan Dwan was a journeyman director who spent 50 years doing hackwork in the studios.Whilst respecting,at least quantitavely,his output,there is very little in it that suggests he ever did more than take the money and run.He bought the product in on time and under budget;period.Presumably in the spirit of post-modern irony praise has been heaped on "Escape to Burma" for portraying its heroine as an unprincipled man-hungry bitch - a giant leap for womankind indeed. Miss Barbara Stanwyck tackles this role with gusto and strides about the set barking orders to her mahouts with barely concealed glee.She has two men to choose from,macho sneering Mr Robert Ryan or borderline closet queen(and ,worse,English borderline closet queen)Mr David Farrar. Mr Ryan oozes testosterone,Mr Farrar oozes Guerlaine's "Ode".Mr Ryan is wanted for murder,Mr Farrar is the Marshal(sorry,policeman),come to take him to jail.No contest there then. The two boys spend a lot of time fighting and trying to avoid knocking over bits of scenery .Miss Stanwyck and Mr Ryan go on a tiger hunt,their quarry clearly not even photographed on the same film stock let alone the same set.To everybody's surprise and relief Mr Ryan is revealed to be innocent after all,but not before being tortured and whipped whilst gritting his teeth bravely.Sadists and masochists are people too,you know.Where was Mr Dwan's head when he was making this?God alone knows. He was 72 at the time - I suspect he was having a senior moment.