The Purple Plain

In every era of history where men are pitted against each other, there too great memories are lost and buried. As each loss is created, so too are the haunting images which etch across a soldier's face. Every man's countenance thereafter displays his loneliness and despair. Yet within his heart and soul is the yearning for redemption and another chance to live and love again. This movie called " The Purple Plain " is based on the novel written by H. E. Bates and is wonderfully directed by Robert Parrish. With the vast landscape of the Burmese jungle and it's idyllic locations, we have Bill Forester (Gregory Peck) a lost and war weary squadron leader, Bill Forrester (Gregory Peck) pushing his luck in an apparent attempt to commit suicide. Having lost his wife to the war, he now displays a reckless, carefree attitude boarding on the insane. However, those around him see a mutilated man racked by pain and despair, creating both fear and admiration. A doctor (Bernard Lee) is given a last chance to see if there anyway to save him. The film is a superb offering of Mr.Peck's great talent. In addition we see a great performances by Maurice Denham as Blore and Win Min Than as Anna. All in all, this film is one of the most overlooked milestones in cinematic history. ****

Purple Plain is an obscure film in Peck's long list of movie credits. I don't know if this British production got much publicity or release stateside, despite Peck's movie star celebrity. Unfortunately, it's never been a TV regular, which is too bad because this tale of renewal and survival is an unusual and gripping one, in spite of the obscurity.

The film opens in the Burmese jungle during WWII. Peck is a battle fatigued flyer on the ragged edge of breakdown. He's about to be relieved because of erratic behavior, all the while he's flashing back on his wife's death in a London air-raid. These are well-done scenes causing us to sympathize with his loss. Nonetheless, he's jeopardizing his comrades with reckless manuevers because the loss has undermined his will-to-live. Thus, we're torn between sympathy and concern, just like the flight station doctor (Bernard Lee).

In an interesting move, Lee overcomes Peck's agonies by reconnecting him socially, in this case with a nearby missionary community. There Peck finds the vital human relationships so importantly missing from his death-dealing combat duties. As a result, his life takes on new meaning and purpose as a result of rejoining a human community where such life-giving affirmations can emerge. On the whole these are well-done scenes, especially the chaos from the Japanese air attack. In the midst of the carnage, Peck's combat flyer finds a new role in helping to bandage up survivors. Herein lies the movie's basic message and it's an important and humane one, conveyed in fairly subtle fashion, though the turn-around occurs more quickly than I would have liked.

Nonetheless, it's interesting that the script avoids the usual officially sanctioned head-doctor therapies. Note that Peck is not sent to be counseled by an air force psychiatrist, nor to join a chest-baring therapy group, nor to have his past puzzled together Freudian style. Of course, the happy solution here remains a "movie" solution where-- as we all know-- anything can be made to magically happen. Still, for a war-movie setting, the simple affirmation that mental health lies through nurturing social relations and not through government sanctioned killing remains no less suggestive because of its movie origins.

The remainder of the film amounts to a survival trek through the wilds of southeast Asia. It's a well-filmed and harrowing struggle against a forbidding landscape where the crash survivors must decide between staying put or hiking out against great odds. But most importantly, it's Peck's chance to regain his humanity by facing up to the odds, not just for his own survival, but for his two comrades as well. The movie's final scene could not have been better conceived. Indeed, no words are necessary. On the whole, this is a subtly and well thought out anti-war film, no less effective because it concerns the fate of one man rather than thousands.Too bad that its humane message remains so generally unseen.

This is a Rank Company (British) medium budget production of a post war H. E. Bates novel. Well directed by Robert Parrish, the screen writing by Eric Ambler is quite good. It was shot on site in, what was then, Ceylon. (Same location as "Bridge on the River Kwai")

The young Gregory Peck plays Bill Forrester a Canadian pilot in the RAF serving in far off Burma in the closing months of WWII. He flies a two seat Mosquito fighter-bomber. (The actual aircraft was provided through the cooperation of the RAF and repainted in accurate camouflage and markings, for once.) Forrester, it seems, has gone "round the bend" after losing his new wife in the Blitz. He's self destructive, wanting to end it all in combat. "You'd think that would be easy in a war", he explains to Anna, "but I just kept getting medals instead." Anna is a small, slim, pretty teacher, played very well by Win Min Than, a Burmese actress (how refreshing). They, of course, fall in love (It's a MOVIE, folks) and his life really seems to be turning around. But, on a routine flight, he and two others go down in a very remote desert area of Burma's central plain (hence, the title). From there on we have a rather good, believable survival saga.

The English love eccentric characters and this story has several, all well depicted by some of those fine performers who bounce back and forth between the British "legitimate" stage and cinema. Watch for Brenda De Banzie, who plays Miss McNab, an elderly missionary. (Ya couldn't miss her!)

The Purple Plain is a good movie, a fine movie really. Not too heavy, it's historically accurate with good production values. Forrester's growth curve coming out of his personal hell is quite interesting. I found the depiction of the native Burmese was respectful without being condescending. For instance, the love between Bill and Anna is portrayed in a very reserved manner, as it would be between a Westerner and a Christian Asian woman in real life. All in all, the story line and performances are very believable and very enjoyable. I highly recommended The Purple Plain, if YOU can find it.

A pot-boiler of a Film that is intelligently crafted by Director Robert Parrish. To some it may seem intolerably slow & lacking pace, but to others like myself the Film does something that nearly all Films in the Fifties and indeed many now do not even attempt to achieve, and that is take the time to investigate the main characters in depth and in detail. This is done not via long tracts of dialogue, but via the un-said. In particular Peck and the astonishingly beautiful and talented Win Man Than as 'Anna' develop their relationship in the Film in the subtlest and most delicate of manners. I can find no further information on Win Man Tan, but her performance in this period piece, is one part enchanting, one part mesmerising. We understand fully how Peck's psychiatric problems eventually dissolve as hie begins to find perspective courtesy of love for 'Anna'. This Film is not staggering nor the best piece of Cinema you will ever see, but it is superbly acted, wonderfully cast, sparingly written, adroitly directed, and deserves to be watched by anyone who has a love of Cinema. Recommended, because what we see at our Cinemas today has MUCH to learn from Movie making such as this.

Peck is a neurotic, suicidal pilot in Burma during WWII. He's transformed by his love for a native girl, which gives him the drive to survive the trek through the harsh burmese wilderness after his plane crashes.

A good,dramatic film with serviceable performances by the cast. Especially by Brenda De Banzie as a missionary.