The Quiet American (1958 film)

In 1952 Saigon, the body of Alden Pyle, a young American, is found dead near a river during the Chinese New Year celebration. Thomas Fowler, a British journalist, had invited Pyle to his flat. Inspector Vigot, who is investigating the drowning murder of Pyle, interrogates Fowler, who declines to verify whether Pyle and Fowler's former Vietnamese lover, Phuong, were engaged. At a morgue, Fowler identifies the corpse is indeed Pyle. As Fowler recollects, a flashback occurs. Months ago, Pyle had first met Fowler and Phuong inside a hotel lobby where they discuss the ongoing Indochina War. Pyle invites Fowler and Phuong to the Rendez-Vous restaurant where he dances with Phoung and meets her sister. A week later, Fowler travels up north as advised by his contact Dominquez. There, Fowler learns not only Pyle has allied with General Thé, a renegade commander leading the "Third Force", but that Pyle also intends to marry Phuong. Fowler himself is a married man, but cannot marry Phuong until he divorces his wife. When he leaves, Fowler receives a telegram from London, stating he has been promoted as a chief foreign editor. Two weeks later, Fowler returns to Saigon and learns Pyle is importing plastics. At Fowler's flat, Pyle tells Phuong about his intent to marry her, with translation help from Fowler. When Pyle leaves, Fowler writes a letter to his wife, requesting a divorce. Days later, after Fowler and other journalists interview a Caodai military commander, he helps Pyle ride back to Saigon. When Fowler's car runs out of fuel, he and Pyle find shelter at a watchtower with two Vietnamese sentries. Before long, the watchtower is bombed by the Communists and Fowler is hit in the ankle as they hide under fire in a rice paddy. As Fowler recovers, he reads his wife's letter, in which she refuses to divorce per her faith. He however lies to both Phuong and Pyle stating his wife has agreed to a divorce. Sometime later, Dominguez recommends Fowler to speak with Mr. Heng, a Chinese communist. Trusting Fowler's journalistic neutrality, Heng shows him materials containing "diolacton", an American trademarked plastic explosive. Meanwhile, at a restaurant, Pyle exposes Fowler for his lying. That same afternoon, Heng shows Fowler imported bicycle pumps that have been made from "diolacton". When Fowler returns to his flat, he discovers that Phuong has left him for Pyle. Inside the city square, several bicycles explode, seriously injuring multiple people. Hours later, Heng tells Fowler to invite Pyle for dinner tonight. At his flat, Pyle reveals an influential Vietnamese he met at Princeton had sparked in his interest in Vietnam, whereby he believes his alliance with General Thé will ensure the nation becomes a republic. Pyle further adds he intends to leave with Phuong next week. Back in the present, Fowler leaves the morgue and tells Phuong about Pyle's death. At Pyle's flat, Vigot has investigated that Fowler had indeed met Pyle that night, and his feelings for Phuong were manipulated by Dominguez and Mr. Heng, both of whom were agents of a Communist killing squad. The "diolacton" trademark is also revealed to have never existed. After Vigot leaves, Fowler finds a telegram, stating his wife has agreed to a divorce. Elevated, Fowler finds Phuong at the Rendez-Vous restaurant but she rejects him. == Cast ==

Filming of The Quiet American began in Saigon on January 28, 1957, then moved to Rome, where it finished in late April. It was the first time a feature film had been shot in Vietnam. The crew had some difficulty filming there: they had to avoid shooting at midday because of the harsh shadows; they had trouble getting permission to shoot inside a Buddhist temple because of religious scruples related to the phase of the moon; and they inadvertently helped a political protest take place that would otherwise have been shut down by the police, because the authorities assumed it had been staged for the film. Graham Greene had been a war correspondent in Indochina, and was critical of the growing American involvement there. Joseph L. Mankiewicz, the writer, director, and producer of the film, significantly diluted the political impact of Greene's story by making the character of Pyle an aid worker and private citizen rather than a representative of the American government, and by focusing on the love-triangle aspects of the story rather than the geo-politics of the war. The character of Phuong, a young Vietnamese woman, was portrayed by actress Giorgia Moll, an Italian. Audie Murphy said that he never would have participated in the movie if the story's tone had not been changed from anti-American to pro-American, and he called his part "one of the greatest I've ever had". ==Critical response==

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times noted Mankiewicz had removed "the anti-American venom" from Green's novel. Nevertheless, he complimented the performances of the cast, and felt the "[s]cenes shot in the streets of Saigon have a vivid documentary quality and, indeed, the whole film has an aroma of genuine friction in the seething Orient." Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times praised the film, likening it to "Judaslike tragedy, on an intellectual level, if you will—but brilliantly intellectual. The dialogue crackles like the Chinese New Year during which the drama unfolds. Yet despite the protracted spoken passages the film is always cinematic, steeped in the exotic atmosphere of Viet-Nam, where it was shot." Time magazine deplored the deviations from the novel, but acknowledged "the picture is well worth seeing for the buildup that precedes it. Mankiewicz is an intelligent director, and he keeps his actors on the jump and his story on the move." Variety wrote the film was "an overlong, overdialogued adaptation, concerning itself with the pros and cons with a Third Force in Asia and playing scant lip service to one of the old adage that one of the most basic appeals of the motion picture is that it moves." ''Harrison's Reports similarly observed the film "subjects the spectator to incessant talk throughout its overlong two-hour running time, and mitigating against its acceptance by the rank-and-file movie-goers is the fact that the talk is mostly ideological ... Dramatically, its impact is ineffectual." A review in the Chicago Tribune'' wrote: "The general tone of the Graham Greene novel, which many people considered anti-American, has been considerably softened in the film version, though a note of acerbity, some of it deserved, still remains [...] As that gentleman, Audie Murphy is in a pretty fast league as far as acting is concerned—Michael Redgrave and Claude Dauphin are a pair of skilled veterans, and while Audie is well cast, they outshine him." ==References==