The Long and the Short and the Tall

A claustrophobic, dialogue-driven pressure cooker where boredom and bigotry curdle into moral crisis and sudden violence.

Directed by

Leslie Norman

Genres

War, Comedy, Drama

Starring

Laurence Harvey, Richard Todd, Richard Harris

Tagline

Raw emotions bared !

Overview

Based on a play by Willis Hall. A troop of British soldiers are out in the jungle to record jungle noises and troop noises in the jungle so that the recordings can be played back by other troops to divert the enemy to their whereabouts. As they progress to what they think is closer to the base camp they find themselves farther and farther from radio range until the only channel they can get clearly is that of a Japanese broadcast. They now realize they are probably only 10 to 15 miles from a Japanese camp! The tension is added to by rowdy and openly admitted "non-hero" Private Bamforth who has nothing good to say about anyone and especially Corporal Johnstone (who holds an equal dislike for Bamforth). When a Japanese soldier is taken as their prisoner, the true colours of each man comes to the surface

How it feels

Tense, dark, bleak and cynical. Slow-burning and needs your attention.

About

Morality, war, guilt, betrayal

Content

Strong violence. Mild gore and language. No sexual content.

Note

Written by AI, so it can be wrong. Full breakdown

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