THE BEST OF BRITISH - THE LONG AND THE SHORT AND THE TALL (1961 PG b/w)

The "Best of British" season, which will continue on both itv gold channels, now features "The Long and the Short and the Tall", a highly acclaimed war drama, directed by Leslie Norman and starring Laurence Harvey, Richard Todd, Richard Harris and David McCallum. In this movie, "a troop of British soldiers are out in the jungle to record jungle noises and troop noises, so that the recordings can be played back by other troops to divert the enemy to their whereabouts. As they progress to what they think is closer to the base camp, they find themselves further and further from radio range, until the only channel they can get clearly is that of a Japanese broadcast. They then realise that they are probably only 10 to 15 miles from a Japanese camp! The tension is added to by rowdy and openly admitted "non-hero" Private Bamforth (Harvey) who has nothing good to say about anyone and especially not, Corporal Johnstone (Harris), who holds an equal dislike for Bamforth. When a Japanese soldier is taken as their prisoner, the true colours of each man comes to the surface..." Producer Michael Balcon had wanted to cast Peter O'Toole, who had played the part on stage version (by Willis Hall), in the role of Bamforth. Another actor considered was Albert Finney. However, the American backers required a "name", and Laurence Harvey was cast - and a good choice too as along with his role as Joe Lampton, this soon became one of his most acclaimed films. Over on itv gold 1, you'll be able to see Dirk Bogarde and Sarah Miles in Joseph Losey's "The Servant" (1963) next, followed by the director's earlier work, "The Criminal" (1960) starring Stanley Baker and Sam Wanamaker. And, there are two "Appointments With Fear" for your delight late this Friday night: "Fear in the Night" (1972) here on itv gold 2 and the vampire sequel, "Taste the Blood of Dracula" (1970) on itv gold 1.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Jungle
• Fighters
• Long
• the
• Short
• Tall
• Bless
• 'em
• All
• World
• War
• Two
• Prisoner
• of
• Independent
• Film
• Based
• On
• Play

[Photonzos]

Transpose the word 'fuck' with the word 'bless' and you'll get the gyst of the song

[pyrofella]

A great movie...top cast - top story - Thanks for uploading it

[RichMatarese]

@greenrate - Because so much TV reception (and broadcasting) in the '60s was still B&W, film and television producers took pains to ensure that even theatrical releases (which had an important secondary market in televised broadcasting) would show up well in B&W. There were even special filtering monoculars used on the sets during set-up and shooting to make sure that B&W viewing would be satisfactory.

[steve560803]

@onooweroo Richard Todd parachuted into Normandy on D-Day to reinforce the glider troops at Pegasus Bridge (check Wikipedia for info. on THAT) muppet!

What the hell have you ever done?

[greenrate]

@southlondon63

Suggestion: for color films . . . just turn the color down to zero.

"Bridge on River Kwai", for example, works great in B&W.

[FeignofCordor]

A classic and one of my favourites:)

[southlondon63]

I must be getting old, I don't like a film if it aint in black and white like this one.

[MrDgraham64]

to the muppet who called them poofters;richard todd was a real war hero.

[HxMxOx]

The Japanese soldier looks like a grandpa!

[HxMxOx]

@onooweroo

"Shuuuuut uuuuuup!" :o)