Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 11-November-07
Spoiler Rating: Medium

The Purple Plain (1954)

First let me say that "The Purple Plain" is a silly name for this movie with no apparent relevance to the plot.* Second, that you should not let that bother you because it's a decent film. And third, that it surpasses decent and becomes essential if you are a Gregory Peck fan, as indeed everyone should be.

The non-purply, non-plainy plot finds Peck — the most supreme specimen of manhood ever known — playing a World War II pilot posted to Burma. The country is still under British control, and his character, Bill Forrester, is a Canadian volunteer with the Royal Air Force. Bill is not well liked because he is cranky, prone to hallucinations, and bent on unnecessary risks which put both himself and his comrades in danger. We learn in a flashback that he lost his wife in a bombing raid, which triggered his mental ill health. In a last-ditch effort to rehabilitate him, the camp doctor (Bernard Lee from "The Third Man") invites him to drive to a neighboring village where he can see new things and have a man-to-man chat along the way. In the village Bill meets an attractive woman named Anna (Win Min Than) who was rescued from war-torn Rangoon by a Scottish missionary (Brenda De Banzie). Sparks inevitably fly.

Up to this point the proceedings are fairly familiar, since a lonely soldier going gaga over a beautiful Asian is nothing new. But then "The Purple Plain" adopts a unique approach to show just how powerful a reason to live can be. During a routine mission to deliver his nerdy bunk mate (Maurice Denham) to a new post, Bill must make a crash landing in enemy territory. To make matters worse, his young navigator (Lyndon Brook) is badly injured in the crash. There they are, three very different men, lost in a wilderness with a meager supply of water and little chance of rescue. A month earlier this would have been Bill's suicidal dream come true. Now, with Anna awaiting his return, he feels a great determination to go on.

It's a physical picture after that, as Bill decides to attempt a four-day walk to the river bearing the injured man on a makeshift stretcher. His bunk mate whines and complains and questions his every move, but there is no doubt whose will is stronger. The movie does a good job conveying the heat, thirst, and fear of the trek and the remoteness of its exotic location. (One scene takes place under a fantastic tree whose roots stretch all down a slope.) What is plain is that others would have died in such a situation, but for Bill death is no longer an option. The interesting mix of war-movie schmaltz and action-movie drama propels "The Purple Plain" past the ordinary. Consider its leading man and you have a worthwhile rental.

*My search to see if it might be a quote from something came up empty.

Copyright © 2007 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.