Review of King Rat (1965) by Stuart K — 30 Apr 2014

Written and directed by Bryan Forbes, (Whistle Down The Wind (1961), Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) and The Stepford Wives (1975)), and adapted from James Clavell's 1962 novel. This is a tough and down and dirty prisoner of war film.

It was also Forbes' first American film, filmed in Southern California, Forbes was lucky to get the very best of British actors to go to America to work on this film. Set during World War II in South East Asia on a POW camp ran by the Japanese, there's a mixture of British, Australian and a handful of American troops on site, one of the American's is Corporal King (George Segal), who always seems to be better kept and smarter than the soldiers suffering under the labour and heat of the camp, and that's because he's running a black market operation on camp.

He becomes friendly with RAF officer Peter Marlowe (James Fox), who acts as a translator for King, but this puts Marlowe at a disadvantage, and it puts him at loggerheads with Lieutenant Grey (Tom Courtenay), who can't stand King.

It's a heavy going film, and shot in a stark black and white, this is a compelling and engaging character piece, and Forbes also has the likes of Denholm Elliott, Leonard Rossiter, Geoffrey Bayldon and John Mills in the film, and they give this Hollywood production a distinctively British feel, although Forbes had to fight to cast them.