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__________ My mom emailed me: "Ted, I finished (reading) The Quiet American. I was thinking I would like to see the original movie made fom this book but cannot find any information on it. What was the title of that movie?" Ted Strong: "Ben-Hur." Patti Strong: "Ted, Very funny .... but I do remember reading that the first movie made from The Quiet American made Pyle the hero, and that Greene was displeased with the movie (as he was with most if not all of them). Anyway, I cannot find it on Google...did it have a different name?" Ted Strong: From imdb.com:
This film has never been released on video in this country. It may be available soon though because of the remake. I don't know. The Quiet American (1958) gets mixed reviews, but this guy gives it ***** out of *****: The
Quiet American The Quiet American ***** Dir: Joseph L Mankiewicz With: Audie Murphy, Michael Redgrave, Claude Dauphin, Giorgia Moll, Bruce Cabot, Fred Sadoff, Kerima, Richard Loo 120 mins, cert PG. "I wish there was someone to whom I could say I was sorry," says Michael Redgrave's melancholy expatriate at the end of this film. The question emerges from the cynicism, guilt and yearning for redemption at the heart of this 1958 movie, adapted from Graham Greene's novel and directed by Joseph Mankiewicz. Redgrave is a world-weary foreign correspondent in 1950s Saigon, abjectly devoted to his Vietnamese mistress Phuong, or Phoenix, played by Giorgia Moll. (The non-Asian casting, as with Yul Brynner in The King and I, was of its time.) Audie Murphy is the eponymous American, a liberal idealist who has come out to promote a "third way" between French colonialism and communist insurgency, and ends up falling in love with Phuong. The political dimension to the movie is devastatingly pertinent, as Redgrave and Murphy prophetically rehearse the debate about the "domino" effect in south-east Asia. But the spiritual dimension is more pertinent still, as Redgrave glimpses his own need for an elusive someone beyond the vanities of political settlement and romantic anguish. The absurdities and ironies of his own desolation yield up this question, a little like the "sense of humour" that Greene himself said allowed him to believe in God. I am agnostic about Murphy's unsupple performance, but Redgrave is outstanding, Robert Krasker's monochrome cinematography is a thing of wonder, and Mankiewicz's direction is superb. Now there is a new version in the offing, currently at the test-screening stage, scripted by Christopher Hampton, with Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser in the lead roles. It will have to be very good indeed to match this. This guy likes it too, **** out of *****... The Quiet American (1958). Reviewed by Jamie Russell. Although most 'Nam War film lists begin with John Wayne's "The Green Berets" (1969), there was actually a cycle of dramas - from "Saigon" (1948) to "The Ugly American" (1963) - that were set in the region during the years before American troops arrived. Based on the novel by Graham Greene, "The Quiet American" is one of these pre-war movies. It's a political thriller that combines a passionate love triangle with some cloak-and-dagger intrigue and a prescient grasp of the dangers that Vietnam would bring America. When an idealistic young American (Murphy) arrives in Saigon, his presence causes all kinds of rumours. Is he a spy, a philanthropist, or just another Yankee businessman? British war correspondent Fowler (Redgrave) doesn't know for certain, but the American's talk of a "third force" that will offer the Vietnamese the right to choose between French colonial rule and Communism sounds suspect. Even more worrying, though, is his interest in Fowler's Vietnamese girlfriend Phuong (Hai Yen Do) who he's quite openly making a play for. While Graham Greene was annoyed by the way in which Hollywood had downplayed the novel's cynicism, "The Quiet American" is still a considerably more challenging movie than one might expect. There's some wonderfully witty banter between Redgrave's world-weary cynic and Murphy's naÔve idealist, some evocative location shooting and an underlying fatalism that gives the production quite an edge - one that not even the talky script can blunt. With a stunning performance from Redgrave whose dry British wit is an absolute delight and a downbeat love story that owes more than a nod to "Casablanca", "The Quiet American" is a deftly adult film. Here's betting that the soon-to-be-released remake starring Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser won't even come close to capturing its dark and moody feel. From Hal Erickson at the All Movie Guide: The Quiet American (1958); Audie Murphy, Michael Redgrave, Claude Dauphin. The Quiet American was the first major American-financed film to touch upon the powder-keg situation in Vietnam (still referred to as Indochina in 1958). Audie Murphy plays an enigmatic American who comes to Saigon, ostensibly on an economic mission. He meets an embittered journalist (Michael Redgrave) who is living with an Indochinese girl (Giorgia Moll). The American falls for the girl and promises to marry her. In retaliation, the reporter tells the communists that the American GI's economist stance is a cover, and that he is actually selling munitions to non-communist troops. Graham Greene had intended his novel The Quiet American to be an attack against American influence in Southeast Asia. Producer/director/adapter Joseph L. Mankiewicz would have none of that, so he changed the ending into a pro-Yankee tract -- thereby killing any impact the film might have had. Here's some photos. I came up with all that info for the original film and I didn't want to waste it, so I posted it here.
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The
Quiet American (1958)