Themes: Prostitutes, Golden Years, Home From the War
Main Cast: Alec Guinness, Leo McKern, John Randolph, Jeanne Moreau, Lauren Bacall, Geraldine Chaplin, Edward Herrmann
Release Year: 1993
Country: UK
Run Time: 95 minutes
Plot
In this sentimental comedy, two British World War II veterans (played by English stage and screen veterans Sir Alec Guinness and Leo McKern) have come back to Normandy together to revisit the site of their most harrowing wartime experiences, to look up the gravesite of a fallen comrade, and to look up the prostitute (Jeanne Moreau) who put joy back into their lives. At their hotel, they meet Waldo (John Randolph), an American veteran, who is on a similar mission. Unlike them, however, he is saddled with the company of his disagreeable daughter and her stuffy husband (Geraldine Chaplin and Edward Herrmann) who think they are doing him a favor by coming with him. One highlight of the film is Moreau's rendition of the Edith Piaf classic, La vie en rose. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Nic Ede - Costume Designer, Charles Sturridge - Director, John Bloom - Editor, Richard Broke - Executive Producer, Geoffrey Burgon - Composer (Music Score), Simon Holland - Production Designer, Richard Greatrex - Cinematographer, Steve Lanning - Producer, Martyn Auty - Producer, Roy Clarke - Screenwriter
A Foreign Field (1993) is a motion picture about British and AmericanWorld War II veterans returning to the beaches of Normandy as old men. It is more a drama than a comedy, although it combines aspects of both. It was directed by Charles Sturridge and featured an ensemble cast of American, Australian, British, and French actors and actresses.
The film was made to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the D-Day landings and was driven into production by Alec Guinness who used his influence with the BBC to make it and with the various famous actors to appear in it.
It was shown only once on BBC1 at the time, but repeated a number of times some thirteen years later (2007) on the digital channel UKTV History.
Cyril (McKern) and Waldo (Randolph), who are British and American, respectively, have both returned to France in search of the same woman (Moreau) with whom they each had a rendezvous in 1944 (unknown to the other). Cyril is accompanied by fellow veteran Amos (Guinness), while Waldo has his petty daughter (Chaplin) and her henpecked husband (Herrmann) in tow. The two groups encounter one another, and after some conflict find common ground in old sorrows. Along the way they meet the recently widowed Lisa (Bacall), who has come in search of her brother's grave.
Production
The film was shot entirely around the department of Calvados, in France.
