A Foreign Field

A Foreign Field
Directed by	Charles Sturridge
Produced by	Martyn Auty Richard Broke Steve Lanning
Written by	Roy Clarke
Starring	Alec Guinness Leo McKern Edward Herrmann John Randolph Geraldine Chaplin Lauren Bacall Jeanne Moreau
Cinematography	Richard Greatrex
Distributed by	BBC
Release date(s)	10 September 1993
Running time	95 min
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

A Foreign Field (1993) is a motion picture about British and American World 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.

Plot

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.

Cast

• Alec Guinness as Amos
• Leo McKern as Cyril
• Edward Herrmann as Ralph
• John Randolph as Waldo
• Geraldine Chaplin as Beverly
• Lauren Bacall as Lisa
• Jeanne Moreau as Angelique

Production

The film was shot entirely around the department of Calvados, in France.

References

External links

• A Foreign Field at the Internet Movie Database