The Purple Plain (1955)

**SPOILERS*** Beautifully photographed in eye popping and lush color the movie "The Purple Plain" is more of a love or a love lost and found story then a war movie with the exotic and beautiful Win Min Tan as Burmese English speaking refugee Anna giving the somewhat mentally unstable and self destructive Canadian RAF Squadron Leader Bill Forrester, Georgry Peck, not only a reason to live but help others to survive and live as well. Forrester has been trying to get himself killed since the London Bltz when his lovely wife of less then one day,Josephine Griffin, was killed in a German bombing raid while the two were on the town dancing the night away.It's now some five years later and Forrester despite trying as hard as he can to get himself killed in combat missions has in fact survived and is now a highly decorated RAF pilot. Something that he,in surviving,tried as hard as he could not to be. It's when he's sent to this mission run by English missionary Miss McNab,Brenda de Banzie, for Burmese refugees from the occupying Japanese that Forrester met and fall in love with Anna who's life he save from a Japanese bombing raid on the mission complex. Much like the German bombing raid on London five years that killed his wife. Now with a new outlook on life and having someone to came back to,Anna, after the war Forrester finds that life is in fact worth living but is soon to be tested on this belief of his to the fullest on his very next mission deep into Japaneses controlled Burma.Shot down over Japaneses controlled Burma Forrester, who once love getting killed, is now responsible not just for getting himself back safely to the British lines but also getting his co-pilot Carrington, Lyndon Brooke,and mechanic Sgt. Blore, Maurice Denham, back safe there as well. With Carrington badly burned after the plane crash things are far more difficult for Forrester to accomplish his task which was, without Carrington being injured, hard enough as it was. And to make matters ever worse Blore was anything but corporative in following Forrester's orders. That in him feeling that he's a certified nut case and wants both himself and Carrington to end up dead together along with him!***SPOILERS*** It was his new found love Anna who had Forrester rise to the occasion in not only wanting to survive but save his fellow British or RAF airmen as well. As it turned out it was Blore not Forrester who ended up cracking up in the jungle heat going bananas and heading out in the brush when he later died horribly from dehydration. Carrington who really had no say in the matter,either to stay put or fend for himself, did survive together with Forrester's help. And in the end Forrester was rewarded for his heroism and self sacrifice by coming back home and having the lovely sweet caring and sleeping beauty Anna longing for a kiss from him, her Prince Charming, to wake her up while she's waiting for him.

The Purple Plain is a true classic. Has a simple but great plot and Gregory Peck does a fine job. Good movie for a rainy afternoon.The Purple Plain is a 1954 British war film, based on the 1947 novel The Purple Plain by H. E. Bates.[1] Produced with a relatively modest budget by J.Arthur Rank Studios, the production was directed by Robert Parrish, with screen writing by novelist Eric Ambler in consultation with the author. Color photography was by Geoffrey Unsworth. The film was produced on location in Sigiriya, in what was then Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and utilized several locations later used in Bridge on the River Kwai. The film was successful at the box office and was ultimately nominated in the category of ''Best British film'' of 1954 at the 8th British Academy Film Awards. The award was presented to the dramatic comedy Hobson's Choice. Actor Maurice Denham was also nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance as Blore.The Purple Plain is generally historically accurate with good production values and attention to detail, and depicts the native Burmese in a respectful manner. The war based survival film also includes several eccentric characters, including Miss McNab, an elderly missionary, played by British actress Brenda De Banzie. The aircraft in the film were repainted in accurate camouflage and markings, and were provided through the cooperation of the Royal Air Force (RAF). RAF members were on-site during filming, and several are credited as extras.

Well made faux-Hemingway with Gregory Peck reprising his neurotic pilot from 12 O'CLOCK HIGH, but in a mostly British production; the other American involved is Robert Parrish who smartly helmed. Brooding over his wife's death in the blitz, Peck finds something to live for in a young Burmese beauty. Then a routine flight goes awry and he lands in Japanese territory with two men to save. Geoffrey Unsworth provides riveting Technicolor images to go with the painterly action effects work, wonderfully different than the Hollywood norm at the time. And there's solid support from Bernard Lee, Maurice Denham, Lyndon Brook and a beauteous Win Min Than in her one & only film appearance. As a Scottish missionary Brenda De Banzie is over the top, but the film needs the bit of applied zest she provides.

This is an odd film and I don't mean this in a negative way. All too often, films seem derivative and predictable, though this film excels in being different and placing Gregory Peck in a very unusual role--that of a fighter-bomber pilot fighting for the British Empire during WWII. While I loved the film because it featured nice aerial shots of the De Havilland Mosquito (the plane), it was not really a film about dogfights and bombing missions but was instead a character study of Peck as he tries to survive and keep his injured comrade alive. At times the film uses some flashbacks, but generally it is a straight drama about how the crash of his plane impacts him and gets him to reassess his life.Different and a film that allows this wonderful actor to exert his acting muscles.