The 7th Dawn

William Holden stuck between Communist fighters and the Brits in Southeast Asia

A former OSS officer who helped the Malaysian guerillas during WW2 (Holden) is now a mogul there in 1953. His prior comrade in the jungle (Tetsurô Tanba) now leads the Communistic revolutionaries, who carry out terrorist attacks as the British strategize their departure from the independence-minded colony. Wanting to stay neutral, Major Ferris finds himself caught between these two forces.

Since "The 7th Dawn” (1964) features William Holden involved with militarists in a Southeast Asian jungle, it naturally brings to mind “The Bridge on the River Kwai” (1957), but it’s closer to Brando’s "The Ugly American" (1963), just with loads of jungle action in the last act. It lacks the avant-garde artistry of “Kwai” and thus feels stiff and old-fashioned by comparison, which also marred “Ugly American.” It’s not great like “Kwai,” but it’s more compelling than “Ugly.”

Speaking of stiffness, the sequence involving Ferris, his mistress (Capucine) and the swooning daughter of the new commissioner (Susannah York) plays so robotically you have to see it to believe it. This is definitely a case where the scene needed rewritten or ad-libbed, anything to make it feel more natural and real.

While the flick is based on the 1960 book "The Durian Tree," the author obviously ripped-off the plot from the 1953 British miniseries (serial) "A Place of Execution."

Although the story is fictional, the situation is historical. The Malayan Insurgency was one of the most pointless conflicts ever fought since the British were leaving and the Communist terrorists delayed their withdrawal… and therefore Malaysia’s independence. Why? Obviously because they wanted to overthrow the Brits through violent revolution and be the ones in power.

Fanatics tend to destroy the well-intentioned causes they support because their “cause” (and the corresponding authoritarian control) becomes more important than the folks they claim to represent. This is just a taste of the thought-provoking material here.

The film runs 2 hours, 3 minutes, and was shot in Malaysia with some studio stuff done in England.

GRADE: B-/B