The Long and the Short and the Tall (1962)

I remember that when this film was released it raised a lot of controversy amongst the soldiers that fought in the Far East.They were upset at their representation as an undisciplined rabble and at the proposition that they would kill an unarmed prisoner of war.There are a number of factors that prevent this becoming a great film.Firstly there is the obvious artificially of the jungle.Those in TV's It ain't half hot look more realistic.Secondly there is the shear theatricality of the performances.Not the usual stiff upper lip type of film.It has all the characters shouting at each other at the top of their voices.The Maps didn't need radio detection.Thirdly there is the performance of Laurence Harvey determined to make sure that everyone knows who is the star of the film.Shame that Peter O Toole didn't get to reprise his stage roll.I was unable to see this on its release as it was an X certificate and I couldn't pass for 16.Difficult to believe this now.

"The Long and the Short and the Tall" is a 1961 war drama by director Leslie Norman. Dated and plodding, the film watches as a platoon of British soldiers apprehend a Japanese scout during WW2's Malayan Campaign. The platoon then wrestle over questions of ethics. Some soldiers abuse the prisoner, some want him executed, whilst others rush to his defence. Laurence Harvey, who plays a gruff private, becomes the platoon's voice of conscience."Long" was once renowned for its foul language and gritty tone, but such things are passé today. The film's "do unto others as you'd have them do unto you" plot ends with a handful of British soldiers captured by the Japanesese, a "shocking" twist which is meant to jolt us into contemplation. This, unfortunately, has little to do with contemporary warfare. Today the shoe is never on the other foot, and it's no longer an issue of populaces failing to "empathise with the enemy", but rather, something far more toxic; the ability of men to rationalise war as something just, necessary and humane, the apathy of populaces, the designed distortion of history and the ability of leaders to remain at a state of perpetual war yet hide such conflicts from prying eyes. The philosophical questions "Long" poses have little bearing upon either modern warfare or WW2 itself. The film costars Richard Harris.4/10 – Slow and unconvincing. See "The Burmese Harp".

The Long and the Short and the Tall is perhaps the most human film I've ever seen. It's meant to be a war film set in the Burmese Jungle, although with absolutely no contour to the ground, and the movie backgrounds all-in-all resembling Kew Gardens or a Rousseau painting, a rather less exotic location must be surmised. With absolutely minimal amounts of fighting you could mislead people by even referring to it as a war movie.The movie follows a platoon of stupid and weak men, I do not for one moment mean that in the sense that they are decadent or immoral, but they struggle for understanding and willpower; I wouldn't have been surprised to see the radio operator ask the Sergeant for a blanky. The Sergeant is a clearly incompetent man, who once got busted down a stripe for losing his patrol, as if it were something easily lost. I stress though that he's not a lazy man, and these two things are often conflated in the movies. The Dream Factory tends to suggest that human limits are to be found only at the limits of our imagination, however most people are profoundly challenged to just get by in life, strive as they might.The 'jock' lance corporal Macleish is a dumb, proud, and self-righteous man, but not in the normal sense of the word, he's not vainglorious at all, he's simply so stupid that he interprets the world via a small and therefore secure moral framework. When he preaches to his leaders about the Geneva Convention, he's not doing it out of some sort of profound understanding, but merely because the Geneva Convention is a rule, and he finds rules easy to grope his way in the dark with.The only one in the bunch who appears to have half a brain says at one point that, "I just do as I'm told". This reminds me of a scene in Mad Max where a guy says to the Toecutter, "Anything you say", to which the Toecutter replies, "Anything...I...say, what a wonderful philosophy you have".These severely challenged men have a moral decision to take, will they manage to do the right thing? Or will they blindly concentrate on the insignia on each other's uniforms? What I like about this film is that we are mostly like that, severely challenged, and I think it's incredibly rare that this is ever acknowledged at the cinema.

Most films made in the years after the Second World War focus on the heroism of the Allies as they battle against the odds; always united. This is different; set in the Burmese jungle it follows a patrol were insubordination is rife and there is constant arguing; largely due to Pvt. 'Bammo' Bamforth constantly questioning orders and having a go at the other members of the patrol. They are working with experimental psychological warfare equipment in an area they believe to be far from the Japanese but while sheltering from a shower they capture a Japanese soldier who has become separated from his unit. Now they have a dilemma; do they kill him or risk taking him with them as they try to return to base? Opinions are divided but the Sergeant decides the prisoner will be more useful alive. The situation changes after it becomes clear that the Japanese know where they are. Now the sergeant decides he will have to kill the prisoner who they have dubbed 'Tojo', although he will do it when they get to a more suitable location. The strongest voice against killing Tojo comes from Bamforth and he is determined to protect him; even when it is suggested he may have looted the bodies of British soldiers because he has a cigarette case marked 'Made in Birmingham'. As the film reaches its conclusion the patrol finds itself pinned down by the Japanese; an encounter not all of them will survive.While I think this was a good film I wouldn't say that I enjoyed it; few of the characters are particularly sympathetic, in fact the only one without obvious character flaws is the prisoner... and he doesn't speak a work of English. The acting was solid and features several well known actors including Richard Todd, Richard Harris and David McCallum. The jungle scenes were more believable than one might expect given that it was filmed at Elstree Studios; I suspect the fact that it is in black and white might help there. With its small cast the claustrophobia of the situation is obvious; it also means everybody is a 'main character' who is there for a reason; we have the bolshie Bamforth, frightened radio operator Whitaker and a corporal who is not only keen that Tojo should be killed but he is determined that he should be the man to do it. If you want to watch a war film that isn't the clichéd group of heroes fighting against the odds then I'd recommend checking this out; just don't expect a feel good ending.