DO POP IN PUB. ALL ARE WELCOME

Brilliant book! Now to see the film.



The Quiet American


BBC2 England
9:00 pm Tuesday Dec 27th
THRILLER
95 min. US, Phillip Noyce, 2002, Cert:15

An excellent version of Graham Greene's famous novel, bulging with atmosphere and complexities and impeccably acted. It's Saigon, 1952. The French are in danger of losing Indo-China to the Communists and Fowler (Michael Caine), a fiftysomething reporter with a young Vietnamese mistress, Phuong, is in danger of being shipped back to England after years of sporadic dispatches. Furthermore, his wife won't give him a divorce when he gets there. Stung by the arrival of Pyle (Brendan Fraser), a young American aid worker who falls heavily for Phuong and proposes marriage, Fowler decides to report the ongoing conflict from the front line - and nearly gets killed. From the opening frames of the film, Saigon springs vividly to life - one of the most powerful evocations of an exotic city on film. And the performances of Caine, Fraser and Do Hai Yan as the girl - with good support from Tzi Ma as Caine's enigmatic assistant - are all top-drawer. Moments of despair, desperation, desire and treachery are vividly etched in this compelling tale. (T) (W/S)