Watch The Purple Plain For Free

I wanted to but couldn't!

Expected more

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Let's get the one bit of bad news out of the way first -- while there are not a lot of special effects in this film, the special effects of air warfare at the beginning of the film are about the worst I've ever seen...and it has nothing to do with it being only 1954. Just plain cheap.Okay, beyond that there is little to criticize. Well, maybe the ending wrapped things up just a little too quickly, but that is not uncommon in many films.The good news is that much of the film was filmed on location...well...not really. Sri Lanka is not Burma. But then again, "The Bridge On The River Kwai", which was supposed to be Thailand, was also filmed in Sri Lanka. I was a bit surprised by the arid nature of much of the film's on location filming (I at least lived in Thailand for a while), but sure enough, there are parts of Burma that can be that arid for parts of the year.The story -- which takes place in World War II Burma -- is a good, and very realistic. It is British story, not American.Gregory Peck's acting here is superb. Wasn't it always? Really, his depth as a man with troubling memories who had allowed those issues to cloud his character is remarkable. I would go so far as to say that this is one of his finer roles, although I was unaware of it until recently.Win Min Than is interesting as the love interest. It's worthwhile looking up her bio on IMDb or elsewhere. She is actually Burmese.Maurice Denham, Lyndon Brook, and Bernard De Banzie are very good as British officers. Brenda De Banzie, whom I remembered from "The Man Who Knew Too Much" is interesting.Highly recommended for Gregory Peck's acting ability.

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.

Purple Plain is an obscure film in Peck's long list of movie credits. I don't know if this British production got much publicity or release stateside, despite Peck's movie star celebrity. Unfortunately, it's never been a TV regular, which is too bad because this tale of renewal and survival is an unusual and gripping one, in spite of the obscurity.The film opens in the Burmese jungle during WWII. Peck is a battle fatigued flyer on the ragged edge of breakdown. He's about to be relieved because of erratic behavior, all the while he's flashing back on his wife's death in a London air-raid. These are well-done scenes causing us to sympathize with his loss. Nonetheless, he's jeopardizing his comrades with reckless manuevers because the loss has undermined his will-to-live. Thus, we're torn between sympathy and concern, just like the flight station doctor (Bernard Lee).In an interesting move, Lee overcomes Peck's agonies by reconnecting him socially, in this case with a nearby missionary community. There Peck finds the vital human relationships so importantly missing from his death-dealing combat duties. As a result, his life takes on new meaning and purpose as a result of rejoining a human community where such life-giving affirmations can emerge. On the whole these are well-done scenes, especially the chaos from the Japanese air attack. In the midst of the carnage, Peck's combat flyer finds a new role in helping to bandage up survivors. Herein lies the movie's basic message and it's an important and humane one, conveyed in fairly subtle fashion, though the turn-around occurs more quickly than I would have liked.Nonetheless, it's interesting that the script avoids the usual officially sanctioned head-doctor therapies. Note that Peck is not sent to be counseled by an air force psychiatrist, nor to join a chest-baring therapy group, nor to have his past puzzled together Freudian style. Of course, the happy solution here remains a "movie" solution where-- as we all know-- anything can be made to magically happen. Still, for a war-movie setting, the simple affirmation that mental health lies through nurturing social relations and not through government sanctioned killing remains no less suggestive because of its movie origins.The remainder of the film amounts to a survival trek through the wilds of southeast Asia. It's a well-filmed and harrowing struggle against a forbidding landscape where the crash survivors must decide between staying put or hiking out against great odds. But most importantly, it's Peck's chance to regain his humanity by facing up to the odds, not just for his own survival, but for his two comrades as well. The movie's final scene could not have been better conceived. Indeed, no words are necessary. On the whole, this is a subtly and well thought out anti-war film, no less effective because it concerns the fate of one man rather than thousands.Too bad that its humane message remains so generally unseen.

I've had this movie on my 10 Best List for many, many years. This story of healing from loss through love is immensely powerful. It's exquisitely photographed; it looks much more art film than Hollywood. The direction is solid, and the pacing near perfect. Peck holds his own among a field of scene-stealing character actors. His performance gives us a clue as to what he was like on the stage. His good looks don't distract you; he's utterly convincing as a pilot who's lost the love of his life and no longer cares whether he lives or dies. In the first part of the movie his character is not a good guy, and it's believable. Hard to do when you look like Gregory Peck.Love conquers all, of course. The story turns on his love for a woman. But, as the movie progresses, we find that he loves his crew too, even "old Blore." The young navigator worships him, and the admiration is returned full force. Their relationship is a key element of the story, as important as the romance between Peck and the Burmese girl. This is one of those rare movies where men openly love each other--not in a gay sense--in a human sense. It's a love based on respect. This is something missing from almost all heterosexual movies. Probably because most men don't seem to be able to easily distinguish between sex, attraction, affection, and love. It all gets mixed up together, and homophobia damps down any positive emotions between men that isn't associated with some sport. Wartime seems to provoke these feelings too, evidently, but it's rare for a picture to show manly affection, except as a joke. It's just one aspect of this film, but one that shouldn't be overlooked. I can only hope this movie gets rediscovered and recognized for the fine, fine film that it is.