A Town Like Alice [The Rape of Malaya] *** (1956, Virginia McKenna, Peter Finch, Marie Lohr, Maureen Swanson, Jean Anderson, Renée Houston, Nora Nicholson, Vincent Ball) – Classic Movie Review 5792

Director Jack Lee’s 1956 film is a solid, sincere but under-powered version of Nevil Shute’s bestseller about the Japanese invasion of Malaya and the suffering of a group of British women rounded up and sent to labuor camps by the advancing Japanese army as prisoners of war in 1941.

Virginia McKenna stars as English woman Jean Paget, with her love for Australian soldier Joe Harman (Peter Finch) as the film’s main focus, as Jean returns to Malaya after the war to build a well for the villagers who helped her during the war and recalls Joe and his bravery in sneaking food for her and her fellow prisoners.

Winning the 1957 Bafta awards for Best British Actress and Actor, McKenna and Finch work well and effectively together in their genteel way. It is a good, well-meaning film, and it was a big Fifties hit. But it now seems a faded glory, partly because the set-bound production and the over-discreet screenplay count against it, and partly because director Lee misses the authenticity and the target of the documentary-style film he is aiming at.

Also in the cast are Takagi [Kenji Takaki] as the Japanese Sergeant, Marie Lohr as Mrs Dudley Frost, Maureen Swanson as Ellen, Jean Anderson as Miss Horsefall, Renée Houston as Ebbey, Nora Nicholson as Mrs Frith, Vincent Ball, Tran Van Khe as Captain Sugaya, John Fabian, Tim Turner, Vu Ngoc Tuan, Geoffrey Keen, Eileen Moore, Yamada [Munesato Yamada], Nakamishi, Ikada, Cameron Moore, Margaret Eaden, Geoffrey Hawkins, Peter John, Domenic Lieven, Jane White, June Shaw, Armine Sandford, Mary Allen and Virginia Clay.

It runs 107 minutes, is produced by Vic, is released by the Rank Organisation, is written by W P Lipscomb and Richard Mason, is shot in black and white by Geoffrey Unsworth, is produced by Joseph Janni, is scored by Matyas Seiber, and designed by Alex Vetchinsky.

‘Alice’ is the town of Alice Springs in Australia’s Northern Territory.

It is also known as The Rape of Malaya.

A 300-minute Australian TV miniseries version followed in 1981.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5792

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