Purple Plain, The1954

Director
Robert Parrish

Acters

Gregory Peck (Squadron Leader Bill Forrester)
Win Min Than (Anna)
Brenda de Banzie (Miss McNab)
Bernard Lee (Dr. Harris)
Maurice Denham (Blore)
Lyndon Brook (Carrington)

In World War II Burma, a Canadian bomber pilot becomes reckless after losing his bride in a Luftwaffe air-raid.

Squadron Commander Forrester is on a transport flight over Burma in 1945 when his plane crashes. He and his passenger, Blore, attempt to trek through the jungle to safety with their injured navigator. Forrester is stern and hard after the loss of his wife earlier in the war, but his heart is softened by the kindness of a beautiful Burmese girl, Anna, and her friend, Miss Menab, a missionary. Blore cannot cope with the pressure and shoots himself, which leaves Forrester with the most gruelling test yet – to struggle back to base with the wounded navigator on his back.

“His ascetic direction well tempered by one of Gregory Peck’s finest interpretations, Robert Parrish delivers here a superb tale of the survival instinct prevailing over self-destruction. This is inspired piece of cinema, by a director with such obvious talent.” – Auteurs At War

“It is a story of war, of survival, and of unexpected romance and has at its heart notions of renewal, rediscovery and rebirth, themes which have enriched so many classic westerns yet which are used skillfully and successfully here.” – Riding the High Country

“It’s really a unique drama which intense visuals seem plugged directly into the emotions of the characters. Couple that with sensitive direction and some offbeat casting, and ‘The Purple Plain’ is a strange, hypnotic experience.” – DVD Savant