The Quiet American (1958)

Wonderfully offbeat film!

Waste of Money.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Apart the great Michael Redgrave who deserve all regards about pretty good acting in this picture,otherwise probable should be even worst, the 2002 new version is much better,l was hopeful that this previous work will be more close to the novel...so far very disappointed indeed, too much talking,overlong and sometimes boring and Audie Murphy wasn't able to do this kind of role...westerns is your ground....another weak point is about how the movie approach of the USA's speech...Communism isn't good,it's true,the french colonialism wasn't good enough??? according to the movie the correct speech is the third way...sadly movie about bad politics....worth to see Michael Redgrave!!Resume:First watch: 2017 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7

Like some other Joseph L.Mankiewicz movies,this is an investigation.The form recalls "Barefoot contessa" which began with the heroine's funeral and was a long flashback .But ,by and large,"Suddenly last Summer " ,the follow-up,was also an investigation (by a shrink)If we forget "guys and dolls" these are three investigations in a row.And anyway ,what are "letter to three wives" or "people will talk"? The plot is complex,and I must admit I do not find it as palatable and as accessible as most of Mankiewicz's works,which,although very talky,manage to remain absorbing till the last pictures : all in all ,all Mankiewicz movies look like filmed stage productions from "All about Eve" to "the Honey pot" and from " a letter to three wives " to " Sleuth" Even a work like "Cleopatra" features more intimate scenes than in an usual epic.The cast,for the first time in Mankiewicz 's canon (it never happened again),is weak:only Redgrave is convincing.Audie Murphy is a wooden actor(but we will not forget he was a hero in real life) and Italian Georgia Moll was a starlet who got lost in two-bit spy thrillers or sword and sandals in the sixties :why an Italian by the way?Just compare this acting with those of" Suddenly Last Summer" ! or "the honey pot" and I won't even mention "All about Eve".The plot mixes politics,economics and love affairs.The center of the story is a simple question of vocabulary:the meaning of the word "plastic" (explosive or plastic to make toys?)It leads the hero (who is not a nice person anyway:it's a cynical man getting old who cannot forgive the American his idealism )into a crazy spiral.He's been manipulated just as Mrs Holy,her son and the shrink were by Mrs Venable (Suddenly last Summer) or the guests and even McFly by Cecil Fox(The honey pot) .In "Sleuth" probably Mankiewicz's pinnacle ,Wyke manipulates Tindle and vice versa.In Mankiewicz 's best works ,people work behind the scenes (Cousin Sebastian in "Suddenly Last Summer" Cecil Fox after his death in "honey pot" and the most important scene in this film -the murder- which we do not see!!-And when they take the stage,they are wearing masks ("Sleuth")

Audie Murphy is wooden in his portrayal of the American and, in a twist to the novel, is the hero of the piece. Not quite what Greene had in mind but relevant to events in the USA during the McCarthy era when this film was made (1958).Phuong has not been given the importance she demands in the novel. The way in which she is 'colonised' by first Fowler and then the American (Pyle in the novel, but not named in this film) is a comment on the way in which the foreign landscape is depicted and also on how the country has been colonised. Despite this she is also manipulative.However, having said some negative things about this production of The Quiet American, it is a MUST view for the portrayal of tensions in the cold war era and the USA's twist to events as they unfold. Remember that Audie Murphy and Joseph L. Mankiewicz testified for HUAC against their fellow actors and colleagues at the height of McCarthyism.This film is totally relevant to events unfolding today and for all those interested in the effects of colonialism and the rise of the Vietnam War. What is interesting about this film is the different take on events portrayed in Greene's superb novel, unfortunately, some of which were omitted or subverted in the 1958 film.This film should be followed by the Philip Noyce version of The Quiet American (2001) with Michael Caine as Thomas Fowler and Brendan Fraser as Pyle (the American in the Mankiewicz version). There is a good opportunity to contrast and compare the two versions which are very different, given that the Noyce Quiet American is closer to the novel.I would also recommend for light relief that viewers watch the Mash Season 2 TV series in which we see Colonel Flag of the CIA raising a few loud laughs.

The Quiet American has a lot to live up to, because it is adapted from possibly the best book that Graham Greene ever wrote. However, it is a very well made and literate film which manages to make a reasonable stab at living up to the forbidding reputation of its source material. Audie Murphy gives a career-best performance as the title character, an American living in Vietnam during the French incursion into the country. He believes that he can make a difference by providing funding for arms, but his political and economic beliefs often lead to death and destruction. A British journalist named Fowler (Michael Redgrave) befriends him, but soon their friendship is damaged when the young American has an affair with Fowler's Vietnamese mistress. In the end, Fowler ponders whether to betray the American to his enemies as an act of revenge for what the American has done to his love-life. The film is powerful, absorbing and well-acted. It perhaps could be criticised for the extraordinarily high amount of dialogue (it's one of those films where if you stop listening for 30 seconds, you'll lose the plot) but that is probably the only true weakness. The themes of betrayal, colonialism, and the wisdom of interfering in the affairs of other nations, are handled thought-provokingly, and the moral dilemma facing the characters at the end are emotionally shattering. Redgrave gives a great performance, conveying the pain of his dilemma with aching conviction.