Themes: Political Unrest, Love Triangles, Americans Abroad
Main Cast: Audie Murphy, Michael Redgrave, Claude Dauphin, Giorgia Moll, Kerima
Release Year: 1958
Country: US
Run Time: 120 minutes
Plot
The Quiet American was the first major American-financed film to touch upon the powder-keg situation in Vietnam (still referred to as Indochina in 1958). Audie Murphy plays an enigmatic American who comes to Saigon, ostensibly on an economic mission. He meets an embittered journalist (Michael Redgrave) who is living with an Indochinese girl (Giorgia Moll). The American falls for the girl and promises to marry her. In retaliation, the reporter tells the communists that the American GI's economist stance is a cover, and that he is actually selling munitions to non-communist troops. Graham Greene had intended his novel The Quiet American to be an attack against American influence in Southeast Asia. Producer/director/adapter Joseph L. Mankiewicz would have none of that, so he changed the ending into a pro-Yankee tract -- thereby killing any impact the film might have had. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Although Graham Greene purists will object to the liberties Joseph L. Mankiewicz took in bringing The Quiet American to the screen, most viewers will find the end result an accomplished, involving, and intriguing, if occasionally talky, experience. The cynicism and the American indictment of Greene's original have been muted, and even those unfamiliar with the novel will likely be able to tell that something is not quite right; but this flaw is more than offset by Mankiewicz's atmospheric, often taut, direction and by the powerful, devastating effect produced by the actions of the two main characters. Viewers are likely to be divided on Audie Murphy's performance, which clearly lacks depth and texture; however, Murphy as a person, if not as an actor, exudes the naïveté and guilelessness that are at the heart of the character, and this helps to atone for much of his lack of acting technique. Michael Redgrave, of course, has technique for days, and he employs it to the full here, delivering a stunning performance that will have the audience on his side (even perhaps when they shouldn't be). Redgrave wraps his soul around the Greene/Mankiewicz dialogue, making a great deal out of even the simplest moments, and the strength of his work carries the film. There's also some gorgeous, very stylish black-and-white photography from Robert Krasker and some evocative location lensing that add to the film's effectiveness. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Bruce Cabot - Bill Granger; Fred Sadoff - Dominguez; Richard Loo - Mr. Heng; Peter Trent - Eliot Wilkins; Clinton Anderson - Joe Morton; Sonia Moser - Yvette; Georges Brehat - French Colonel; Vo Doan Chau - Cao-Dai Commandant; Phoung Thi Nghiep - Isabelle; Yoko Tani - Hostess; Le Van Le - Cao-Dai Pope's Deputy; Nguyen Long - Boy with Mask
Credit
Rino Mondellini - Art Director, Dario Simoni - Art Director, Michael Waszynski - Associate Producer, Joseph L. Mankiewicz - Director, William W. Hornbeck - Editor, Mario Nascimbene - Composer (Music Score), George Frost - Makeup, Robert Krasker - Cinematographer, Joseph L. Mankiewicz - Producer, Roscoe S. Cline - Special Effects, George Shlickin - Special Effects, Rocky Cline - Special Effects, Basil Fenton-Smith - Sound/Sound Designer, Joseph L. Mankiewicz - Screenwriter, Graham Greene - Book Author
In writing the script, Mankiewicz received uncredited input from CIA officer Edward Lansdale, who was often said to be the actual inspiration for the American character—called "Pyle" in the novel but unnamed in this film—played by Murphy.[1]
In a Hollywood still recovering from the effects of the blacklisting of suspected Communists, the film stirred up controversy. Greene was furious that his anti-war message was excised from the film, and he disavowed it as a "propaganda film for America." [1]The Quiet American was remade in 2002, directed by Philip Noyce, with Brendan Fraser and Michael Caine, in a version more faithful to Greene's novel.
In Saigon in 1952, as Vietnamese insurgents are delivering major strikes against the French colonial rulers, an innocent and enigmatic young American economist (Audie Murphy), who is working for an international aid organization, gets caught between the Communists and the colonialists as he tries to win the "hearts and minds" of the Vietnamese people. By promising marriage, he steals away a young Vietnamese woman (Giorgia Moll) from an embittered and cynical Englishman newspaperman (Michael Redgrave), who retaliates by spreading the word that the American is actually covertly selling arms to the anti-Communists.
The Quiet American was filmed in Rome's Cinecittà Studios between January 28 and late April 1957,[3][4] with some location shooting in Saigon, the first time a feature film was shot in Vietnam.[5] The crew had some difficulty filming there — they had to avoid shooting at noon because of the harsh shadows, they had trouble receiving permission to shoot inside a Buddhist temple because of moon's phase, and they indavertantly helped a political protest take place that would otherwise have been shut down by the police, because the authorities assumed it had been staged for the film.[2]
Humphrey Bogart was reported to have been considered to play the lead role, but it was first offered to Montgomery Clift, with Laurence Olivier to play "Fowler". When Clift withdrew for reasons of health, Olivier also left the project.[5]
Graham Greene had been a war correspondant in Indochina, and was critical of the growing American involvement there. By making the character of "Pyle" an aid worker and private citizen and not a representative of the U.S. government, and by focusing on the love triangle aspects of the story instead of the geo-politics of the war, producer-director-writer Joseph L. Mankiewicz significantly diluted the impact of Greene's story,[5] which led the author to disavow the film.
Critical response
The film's dilution of Greene's political point was mentioned by some critics, but the acting was nevertheless noted for its high quality, especially Michael Redgraves. Also praised were the locations. Writing in the New York Times,[6]Bosley Crowther said: "Scenes shot in Saigon have a vivid documentary quality and, indeed, the whole film has an aroma of genuine friction in the seething Orient."[2]
