Peck is an emotionally unstable pilot in Burma. On his wedding night, his bride was killed in a Luftwaffe air raid in England and he's never recovered from the shock. Now, flying Mosquitoes over Japanese territory, he indulges in heroics designed to get himself killed. Survivor's guilt maybe. The problem is that his navigators occupy the same airplane and aren't in such a hurry to die. Peck so far hasn't succeeded either. "I keep trying to die and only win medals," he remarks.
He's an abrasive character and is about to be booted from his squadron when one of his engines catches fire and he manages to land his airplane in the middle of the jungle with two passengers, one of them wounded and unable to walk. It's an exhausting journey through the wilderness before he and his navigator are picked up. When he returns to the airfield, he visits the Burmese girl he's become attracted to, leans over her sleeping form, and collapses onto the bed.
I wish I could have gotten with the program here. There's nothing wrong with the acting. Peck is quite good in projecting a sort of buried tension. And no one can fault an actor like Bernard Miles, who is the sympathetic doctor. The Burmese love interest looks rather plain by the supernal standards of the major film companies but she has a sly and insinuating charm, and her voice is angelic. The location photography is crisp, evocative, and elegant. Special effects are of the period but effective enough.
If only the movie weren't so sluggish and pedestrian. The growing affection between Peck and the girl is understated. That's fine. But the struggle through the bush is handled by the numbers. There are no surprises. And virtually no action scenes. I hate to say this but if you're going to do a character study in the rain forest of Ceylon, why not put more effort into it? Of course, not every film along those lines needs to be "The Bridge On The River Kwai." That would be asking for the moon.
He's an abrasive character and is about to be booted from his squadron when one of his engines catches fire and he manages to land his airplane in the middle of the jungle with two passengers, one of them wounded and unable to walk. It's an exhausting journey through the wilderness before he and his navigator are picked up. When he returns to the airfield, he visits the Burmese girl he's become attracted to, leans over her sleeping form, and collapses onto the bed.
I wish I could have gotten with the program here. There's nothing wrong with the acting. Peck is quite good in projecting a sort of buried tension. And no one can fault an actor like Bernard Miles, who is the sympathetic doctor. The Burmese love interest looks rather plain by the supernal standards of the major film companies but she has a sly and insinuating charm, and her voice is angelic. The location photography is crisp, evocative, and elegant. Special effects are of the period but effective enough.
If only the movie weren't so sluggish and pedestrian. The growing affection between Peck and the girl is understated. That's fine. But the struggle through the bush is handled by the numbers. There are no surprises. And virtually no action scenes. I hate to say this but if you're going to do a character study in the rain forest of Ceylon, why not put more effort into it? Of course, not every film along those lines needs to be "The Bridge On The River Kwai." That would be asking for the moon.