Purple Plain, The

Classic
Another great classic Gregory Peck movie! Very good love story and character development. The casting was excellent. They don't make them like this anymore.

A troubled pilot in WWII Burma fights to survive
This film and 12 O'Clock High are two of my favorite Gregory Peck films, and for similar reasons. Unlike TOH The Purple Plain has virtually no combat, but it is similar in that it examines how men under pressure cope, or fail to cope. The irony of this story is that Forrester (Peck's character) loses his reason for living and tries very hard to die, which as he points out, should be quite easy in a war, but instead gets medals for reckless bravery. When he finally finds a reason to live, he crashes his plane and has to struggle to survive and to keep his navigator and passenger alive in impossible circumstances. Some excellent acting all round from Peck and the British and Australian cast. The beautiful Win Min Than, in her only film, played the female lead and gave a very believable performance. Perhaps because her real life mirrored her film role, as she had fled the Japanese invasion of Burma when she was 14.



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