Dir/Wri: Don Boyd John Hurt, Christopher Cazenove, Judy Bowker, Jeremy Kemp, Anton Rogers | UK Drama
Don Boyd produced some of the most ambitious but foolhardy British films of the seventies and eighties. Leonard Maltin gave this typically eccentric attempt by him at direction shot in Sri Lanka (in which he displays a bizarre penchant for slow zooms and fisheye lenses) a ‘BOMB’ rating; but it can be enjoyed in a similar spirit to a ‘Ripping Yarns’ parody of ‘The Letter’ (naturally set in a rubber plantation) full of sybaritic Brits like gruff zenophobe Jeremy Kemp, clipped Christopher Casenove as a fellow called Proudfoot and an ethereal Judi Bowker who inflames the passion of a youthful John Hurt.
The biggest surprise is the music credit for Peter Skellern, although surprise turns to horror when he actually contributes a couple of songs. @RichardChatten
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