Very well executed

Strong and Moving!

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

This is war at its very worst, and it's difficult to imagine any nastier situation. A small unit is surrounded by any number of Japanese in the Burmese jungle and search desperately for a way out. The only way seems to shoot their way out, which fails a number of times. But they find a small village, where they manage to rout a small Japanese unit with a high officer on top, who is killed but leaves behind some important information by an unintelligible map, which they try to decipher by the help of the one man in the village who knows English but by most controversial means of extortion by making him witness executions. It's war, there are no rules and anything is allowed, and as Albert Lieven said in a previously reveiwed film ("Conspiracy of Hearts" 1960), "If there was any reason in an army at all, it would never make war." Here they make war and suffer the consequences.The film is impressingly well made, the dialog is on top all the way, and the fateful story gives much reason for afterthought. This is the hopeless way in which all wars work, and if you are in it you just can't escape it but have to get through until the end. Stanley Baker, Gordon Jackson, Leo McKern, Guy Rolfe and others are all perfect in their acting, - but it certainly will take some time before you wish to see this film over again. Its unforgettable experience will haunt you.

One of only four Hammer war films, the film takes place in Burma during World War II and it does not pull any punches. In contrast to many films of the period, it depicts war as a dirty, grimy, immoral affair. Like the "Quatermass" films, "The Abominable Snowman" and "Cash on Demand", it was an adaptation of a BBC TV drama, namely a 1958 TV film of the same name which I presume is now lost. According to "The Hammer Vault", the script of the TV version was based on an actual war crime committed by a British officer in Burma.Stanley Baker is brilliant as Captain Alan Langford, a callous, cruel, unprincipled bastard who orders the murder of two innocent Burmese civilians to convince a Japanese informer that he is serious. He is a very intelligent but that just makes him more dangerous. He completely dismisses any argument that he has done something wrong, claiming that it was necessary for the greater good. Yeah, I seem to have heard something like that before. He also orders that the wounded be left behind so that they will not slow them down. The fact that they elect to stay behind before he can tell them of his decision does not make it any less cold blooded. He does what he does so that his men will survive but that doesn't make it right as he crossed a line which soldiers are not meant to cross. If it had been another time and place, he would have been charged with war crimes but of course the victors in war are never charged with war crimes.Guy Rolfe and Leo McKern are excellent in their respective roles as the Padre and the war correspondent Max, the most vocal opponents of Langford's actions with whom the audience are supposed to sympathise. Max compares Langford's behaviour to the killing of Jews in Germany and the Padre unsuccessfully tries to convince him that there is a difference between killing enemy combatants out of necessity and killing innocent non-combatants. While he does not appear until more than an hour into the film, perhaps the strongest cast member in the film other than Baker is the great Korean-American actor Philip Ahn as Major Yamazuki, Langford's Japanese counterpart. Unlike the more rough and ready Langford, Yamazuki tries to present himself as a gentleman as he appears to be a very cultured man who is unfailingly polite, even saying "please" to his captives when he gives them instructions. However, this is just a veneer. Scrape it away and he is just as cold blooded as Langford, as he demonstrates by his actions. There are two sides of the same coin.The rest of the cast is very strong as well such as Gordon Jackson, Richard Pasco, Wolfe Morris, David Lodge, Percy Herbert and, in a very early role, Burt Kwouk. Jackson and Kwouk reprised their roles from the TV version, incidentally. One thing that I liked about the film was that, with the exception of Morris as the informer, all of the Burmese and Japanese characters were played by actors of East or Southeast Asian descent. This adds to the realism of the film, as does the fact that the Japanese and Burmese characters speak their own languages among themselves. The writing by Peter R. Newman is extremely strong and Val Guest's direction is top notch. The film was shot entirely in a studio and this can be seen from the fairly unconvincing backdrops but the jungle, village and forest sets are very convincing.Overall, this is an excellent and powerful anti-war film. While war may give rise to acts of heroism, it is most certainly not an heroic business and the film does not hesitate to point this out, albeit in a comparatively subtle manner.

This Hammer production broke away from the traditional horror movies for which they had become famous in the 1950's and like "The Camp on Blood Island" was a Second World War drama concentrating on the war with the Japanese. Set in the Burmese jungle, but filmed in the studio, it is a mostly all-male affair full of very familiar British faces. With Val Guest in the director's chair and Stanley Baker playing the officer in charge it is often highly effective (and surprisingly brutal). Indeed Baker is so good, (he was nominated for a BAFTA as indeed was the film itself), you might think you are watching a much better film than you actually are. It's certainly not free of clichés but it also poses some interesting ethical questions, (what constitutes a war crime, how far should an officer go in pursuit of his goals?). It may be no classic but it's no disgrace either and is worth seeing.

Obviously, TCM's recent showing of this film was an eye-opening experience for many people, as it was for me. The other reviews (with the exception of the one with the historical ax to grind, completely unsubstantiated by the film) express all my own reasons for appreciating the film. The excitement I want to share is this: After 63 years of movie-watching, chancing on a film entirely unknown to me... one that I have never even seen included in anyone's list of "Great War Movies"... that is so well-produced, -acted and -directed... just so damn GOOD. And to have that incredible feeling of DISCOVERY... another prize addition to my "collection" of film-going experiences.And it was gratifying to see Phillip Ahn, so familiar from the 40's, play a key role so effectively.