Moviecut—Escape to Burma

source: Escape to Burma

Escape to Burma

Ace photographer John Alton contributes the main reason a movie enthusiast would want to watch this Escape to Burma (1955). Certainly Alton tried his best to make the film look interesting by continually fogging his lens with vines, lattices, trees and what-have-you, but the incredibly stupid script (the deathless dialogue includes this classic of instant informative advice: "The monsoon's coming this way. We'd better find shelter.") is something of a letdown. A selection of ham's delight performances also defeat all of photographer Alton's efforts. Oddly, the movie is currently available on a 5/10 VCI DVD that is not presented in SuperScope and is vastly inferior to the trailer in color saturation. On the same VCI disc is the more noirish "Appointment in Honduras" (1953) in which the players led by churlish Glenn Ford just manage to breathe a bit of life into an implausible screenplay. Solid action footage also helps.

Allan Dwan seems more interested in filming the elephants than he is in directing his actors.Most of the time,excellent actors such as Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Ryan are left to their own devices:it's obvious in their first meeting and in the intimate scenes. As for the story,if you have not guessed that Ryan is not guilty long before the extravagant "explanation" ,you are very naive.At times,it looks like an Asiatic western,the elephants replacing the horses.It's an interminable chase ,with a stubborn English cop,nasty natives, a meal in the jungle where the heroes eat elephant stuffed with tiger or the reverse and precious stones .

From an objective film perspective, this is a good piece of moviemaking from several different angles. Firstly, it is a visually striking work of technicolor, the cinematographer John Alton (An American in Paris) does some really great work here. The Burmese castle scenes, wildlife and outdoor scenes, costumes, sets and art direction are all top-notch. As a big fan of Stanwyck, this movie is monumental as it is not only one of her last film roles, but one of the few movies she ever appeared in color, showing her red hair. She gives one of her most sensitive portrayals here while also displaying her usual tough girl image. A lot to like here, the action is good and steady, the only two problems are the hard-to-follow storyline and the ending. All in all, I think this is a near-great film.

it must have been quite impressive for it's time - Color film, old-time film noir star B. Stanwyck and film military hero Robert Ryan were the big attractions in this far-away-location B movie; one of the 2-movie pack in the discount bin from TCM. it DOES have crystal-clear color photography andexcellent sound. Lots of messing about with elephants and tigers, and actors reciting monotone lines; the script needed some more zing or something - not much of a plot in the first half, but it gets better as it goes along. This was made about 10 years before Stanwyck's starring role in "Big Valley". Robert Ryan redeemed himself by doing "Longest Day" and "Battle of the Bulge" after this. Directed by Allan Dwan, who had started in 1911 in silents, and had worked his way up in every occupation in the film industry.

Escape to Burma is just one of a series of adventure features starring the estimable Barbara Stanwyck. However, where this film stands out above many of her other pictures from this period is that the supporting cast can actually act. In fact, the male actors Robert Ryan and David Farrar, are so good in their roles as outlaw and law enforcer that they almost overshadow the matriarch Stanwyck herself. Almost. Escape to Burma is standard Hollywood fare, but entertaining nevertheless; ideal for a rainy day. There are much worse ways to spend 85 minutes.