Escape to Burma (1955)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Allan Dwan

Writers:

Hobart Donavan (screenplay)
Talbot Jennings (screenplay)

Release Date:

9 April 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure

Tagline:

A searing story of sudden love ... and sudden death ... in the hot green hell of the Burma jungle.

Plot:

A fugitive in British Burma hides on a teak plantation, thanks to a mutual attraction with owner Gwen Moore.

Plot Keywords:

Bare Chested Male Bondage | Elephant | Country Name In Title | Whipping | Jungle

Cast

Barbara Stanwyck	...	Gwen Moore
Robert Ryan	...	Jim Brecan
David Farrar	...	Cardigan
Murvyn Vye	...	Makesh
Lisa Montell	...	Andora
Robert Warwick	...	The Sawbwa
Reginald Denny	...	Commissioner
Robert Cabal	...	Kumat
Peter Coe	...	Captain of the guard
Alex Montoya	...	Dacoit
Anthony Numkena	...	Kasha
John Mansfield	...	Sergeant
Gavin Muir	...	Astrologer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Wag Bessing
Joe Ferrante
Tim Nelson
James Van Horn		(as Jimmy Van Horne)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.00 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

UK:PG | West Germany:12 (nf) | Finland:K-16

Company:

Benedict Bogeaus Production

Goofs:

Continuity: In the Burmese jungle temple, some of the apes are chimpanzees, which only live in Africa.

Quotes:

Jim Brecan: You have a way with elephants.
Gwen Moore: It's a male elephant.

Mediocre camp, mildly enjoyable

Direction, acting and virtually everything else about this mid-fifties pulp action flick are too flat to make it more than mildly enjoyable in a camp way. Ryan and Farrar fare better than Stanwyck, whose performance here unintentionally verges on self-parody. Stanwyck is very watchable here, but the script is so lazy and routine that her typical (and admirable) energy in tackling the role works against her. Ryan more appropriately gives the script its due,expressing obvious contempt for some of his lines. For a fifties flick, the quick sexual hookup of Ryan and Stanwyck is surprising (though a 10-year-old kid could see the film and not know what was happening between them).

I think this and "Cattle Queen of Montana" are Stanwyck's only color films. Black and white works better for her; the heavy makeup here makes her look inappropriately feverish, even for a jungle flick.

"Escape to Burma" is enjoyably bad in a mild way. I loved the back-lot jungle sets and obvious tropical foliage decoration. Nice house Stanwyck has there in the jungle too. Super art direction (always an RKO forte).

"Slightly Scarlet," "Silver Lode" and "The River's Edge" are far more enjoyable and interesting Allan Dwan efforts from the fifties.