Trevor Howard is a cocky businessman who's been caught stealing in Singapore; his former guardian, Ralph Richardson, takes him away to a remote trading settlement. There, he idles away, unwilling to help supervisor Robert Morley, falling for native girl Kerima, paving the way for his own destruction...
So he's a bad man to start with, and gets worse. What was Joseph Conrad writing about? The corrupting nature of the 'non-civilised' world? (William Fairchild did the adaptation.) I don't know, but the atmosphere is thick and palpable - I liked the use of the background tribal music, the drumming that comes and goes in partnership with the action. The performances are committed (Howard particularly), there's a certain sense of humour, particularly emanating from Morley's daughter Annabel and a personless river boy. It's well shot by John Wilcox and Ted Scaife, assisted by Freddie Francis and Ted Moore, strikingly edited by Reed and Bert Bates, scored by Brian Easdale. So lots to recommend it, but isn't as likeable as Reed's other key films.
Moment where Morley is strung up and in danger of death is terrifying; some of the back projection in the navigation scenes is terrible.
With George Coulouris, Wendy Hiller, Tamine, Wilfred Hyde-White, Peter Illing, Betty Ann Davies, Frederick Valk.
London films.
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