East of Elephant Rock

The film is set in Ceylon in 1948. The governor is assassinated, but the colonists continue to ignore the natives' discontent with British occupation. Plantation owner Robert Proudfoot exploits his native workers, while his spoiled wife Eve becomes progressively distant from her husband. Eventually Eve has an affair with Embassy secretary Nash but soon discovers that Nash already has a mistress: a native woman. In a fit of rage, Eve murders Nash. Robert comes to Eve's rescue and tries to get her lighter sentencing for the murder. ==Cast==

• John Hurt as Nash • Jeremy Kemp as Harry Rawlins • Judi Bowker as Eve Proudfoot • Christopher Cazenove as Robert Proudfoot • Anton Rodgers as Mackintosh • Tariq Yunus as Inti • Vajira Cabraal as Sharmani • Sam Poythress as Governor General • Geoffrey Hale as Commissioner • Upali Attanayaka as Rawlin's houseboy • J. B. L. Gunasekera as Sharmani's uncle ==Production==

The film is treated at length in Alexander Walker's book ''National Heroes: British Cinema in the 70's and 80's''. Post production was undertaken in London and the film's score was composed by Peter Skellern. ==Release==

The film was selected for the 1976 London Film Festival, screening in December. The programme notes pointed out: It took a year for Boyd to find a distributor and then secure a release, as it was an independent production - without any studio backing. Its first general screening was in January 1978, at the brand-new four-screen Classic 1-2-3-4 on Oxford Street in London. ==Reception==

Critical The film received an extraordinarily hostile UK press and there were suggestions that Boyd had 'ripped-off' William Wyler's classic film noir The Letter. Boyd responded, not implausibly, that he simply hadn't seen Wyler's film but he certainly knew of the Proudlock affair. The Guardian declared it "falls down just about everywhere." Philip French, writing in The Times, commented: while Time Out characterised it as a "depressingly redundant sample of British independent cinema". Alexander Walker's view praised the film's often glorious mise en scène on a limited budget and especially valorises Jeremy Kemp's performance but agrees the story was ineptly handled. later joking that his letter had cost him good reviews for his own films ever since. Alexander Walker in the Evening Standard stated ==See also==