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Category: War
All Genres: War, Drama
Release Year: 1965
Country: USA
Runtime: 134
Rating: 5.8 (0)
Languages: English
Director: Bryan Forbes
Sound: Mono
Taglines:

Writing by: James Clavell – novel
Bryan Forbes – written for the screen by

Produced by: Marvin Miller – associate producer
James Woolf – producer

Cast: George Segal – Corporal King: The American Hut
Tom Courtenay – Lt. Robin Grey: The Provost Staff
James Fox – Peter Marlowe: Hut 16
Patrick ONeal – Top Sgt. Max: The American Hut
Denholm Elliott – Lt. G.D. Larkin: Hut 16
James Donald – Dr. Kennedy: The Hospital Staff
Todd Armstrong – Tex: The American Hut
John Mills – Col. George Smedley-Taylor: The Senior Officers
Gerald Sim – Lt. Col. Jones: The Senior Officers
Leonard Rossiter – Maj. McCoy: Hut 16
John Standing – Capt. Daven: Hut 16

Music: John Barry
Official Website: Visit Website


Plot Outline: The Japanese prisoner-of-war camp Changi in Singapore, which houses Allied POWs, is a living hell. The…
Plot: The Japanese prisoner-of-war camp Changi in Singapore, which houses Allied POWs, is a living hell. The great mass of POWs are living at a sub-human subsistence level. US Army Corporal King has been living up to his surname, through his control of the camps black market, and by scamming the officers and other POWs. King has a facility for making deals with the Japanese to obtain the contraband he sells to the POWs. His nemesis is British Lieutenant Robin Grey, the camp provost marshal, a humorless, intense martinet who survives through his strict adherence to the British articles of war, which forbid collaboration with the enemy. He is suspicious of King, and is determined to catch him and bring him to justice. The humorless Grey is an upright, uptight moral prig who has been as badly damaged psychologically as any of the other POWs. The high-living King befriends a genteel young British soldier, Peter Marlowe, who at first resists his blandishments, and then succumbs, to his charm. The POWs become aware that the war is drawing to its end, and King and Marlowe grow concerned that the brutal Japanese guards may slaughter the prisoners before they can be liberated. King and Marlowe are determined to raise a large amount of money to buy their freedom by bribing their captors. One of the schemes that King devises is to raise the meat of deer mouse, a native delicacy, to sell to the officers and any POW who can afford it. Conditions are so desperate in the camp, that POWs are stealing rations form one another in order to stave off starvation. This is another one of Kings scams, as the “mouse deer are actually rats, the breeding stock for which have been the rats that have fed off the corpses of dead POWs. The desperate situation in the camp is exacerbated by the brutality of the Japanese guards, and by the senior British officers predilection for breaking the will of the POWs in order to maintain camp discipline. Resistance, thus, is futile, and with no other outlet, the animosity of the POWs has to be channeled against each other. It becomes quite apparent that, aside from Lieutenant Grey and the dead, everyone in the camp is corrupt. Corporal King merely stands out, as he is Jack-the-Lad, The King-of-the-Hill, King of the Camp, KING RAT.

Crazy Credits: We know about 1 Crazy Credits. One of them reads:
The end credits run over what appear to be deleted scenes and alternate footage, along with the same scene of Sybil Danning ripping off her shirt, which is repeated no less than 18 times.

Goofs: We know about 2 goofs. Here comes one of them:
Boom mic visible: After Maj. McCoy and the others have been arrested for possessing a radio, and Col. Smedley-Taylor is waiting outside for news, the shadow of the boom mike being lowered is cast over the actors in the background.

Trivia: There are 3 entries in the trivia list – like these:

• Both Paul Newman and Steve McQueen were offered the chance to star in the film. They both turned it down and the role went to George Segal.
• In Interviews Bryan Forbes has said he had to fight the Screen Actors Guild over the most of the 15 British Equity members he wanted to cast. The Screen Actors Guild wanted British SAG members most who were fairly elderly most not suitable for the film.
• SPOILER: In the scene where King (George Segal) and his inner circle of fellow prisoners are cooking the dog, the actors (other than Segal) were not told what they were supposed to be eating in the scene. Their reactions are authentic and ad libbed.