The Purple Plain (1954)

This films features quite a strong performance from Gregory Peck as "Forrester", a Canadian air force officer serving in Burma. Reckless and thoughtless, he has managed to irritate just about everyone until "Dr. Harris" (Bernard Lee) decides to try to get to the bottom of his behaviour. It turns out that a combination of his recently deceased wife and his own wartime experiences have ground him down so "Harris" decides it is time to rehabilitate him and he meets the delightful "Anna" (Win Min Than). In case you think that's it; well not quite. He takes a plane up with "Blore" (Maurice Denham) and his new room-mate "Carrington" (Lyndon Brook) but that comes a cropper and the three must do their best to ge home - at times a perilous journey exacerbated by an injured "Carrington" and a pretty recalcitrant "Blore". Peck is good in fits and starts, here. At the beginning he offers an intense, almost maniacal, performance and once we end up on the journey after the crash, that behaviour focuses much more on leadership and survival and is different, but equally effective. Brenda de Banzie offers a bit of light relief as the stoic Scot "Miss McNab"; it moves along consistently with a minimum of waffly dialogue and some fine cinematography from a rather stunning Ceylon. All in all, I really quite enjoyed this.