Search - The Quiet American on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1958 DVD Release: 04/19/2005 Format: DVD - Black and White,Letterbox for TV - Closed Captioned Audio Tracks: English, Spanish Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 2 mins Studio: MGM Total Copies: 1 Genres: Drama, Thriller, Political Drama

The Quiet American was the first major American-financed film to touch upon the powder-keg situation in Vietnam (still referred to as Indochina in 1958). Audie Murphy plays an enigmatic American who comes to Saigon, ostensibly on an economic mission. He meets an embittered journalist (Michael Redgrave) who is living with an Indochinese girl (Giorgia Moll). The American falls for the girl and promises to marry her. In retaliation, the reporter tells the communists that the American GI's economist stance is a cover, and that he is actually selling munitions to non-communist troops. Graham Greene had intended his novel -The Quiet American to be an attack against American influence in Southeast Asia. Producer/director/adapter Joseph L. Mankiewicz would have none of that, so he changed the ending into a pro-Yankee tract -- thereby killing any impact the film might have had. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Audie Murphy - The American
Michael Redgrave - Thomas Fowler
Claude Dauphin - Inspector Vigot
Giorgia Moll - Phuong
Kerima - Phuong's Sister

Joseph L. Mankiewicz's The Quiet American (1958) was mostly forgotten in the wake of the Phillip Noyce remake from 2002, which was a shame because, for all of its flaws -- including the elimination of the directly anti-American elements from Graham Greene's original novel -- it did have the virtue of a realistic look, courtesy of Robert Krasker's black-and-white cinematography, and an outstanding performance by Michael Redgrave. The movie has now arrived on DVD, two years after the Noyce version, in a very good though somewhat spare edition. The mastering of the image (in the non-anamorphic European widescreen ratio of 1.66:1) is clean and very sharp; if not exactly a revelation, it does offer more detail than the version this reviewer saw broadcast quite a few years ago. The movie has been given 16 chapter markers, which is acceptable if not exactly adequate, and there are no bonus features. The disc opens automatically to a simple menu with the "play" option in the default position. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide