A terrific cast and a talked about play does not make for a good big screen adaptation. The stagey sets; trying to make a Burmese jungle in a sound stage, detracts from the procedures and gets in the way of what little action there is.
For me, the biggest problem is one of credibility and this goes back to the play itself. I just don't believe in characters who, under such pressure to escape, would just bicker at each other when the enemy is just around the corner. Maybe that was the point of the play, but it doesn't resonate with truth. Some characters don't want to shoot the Japanese prisoner because it will make too much noise and alert the enemy, but that doesn't stop them from yelling at the top of their voices! No one considers an idea to just tie up the prisoner and leave him behind as they make their escape and they just dawdle for the sake of more dialogue scenes about justice and seniority. The characters have some interesting ambiguities; Harvey is a barrackroom lawyer but has the most tactical nouse, Todd is a hard bitten professional solider but cannot control his section and Harris is the bully who surrenders at the end. But if this is a piece of wartime kitchen sink drama, designed to expose hypocricy in the British army, then it doesn't work. "The Hill" is a far, far better film that deals with these issues.
For me, the biggest problem is one of credibility and this goes back to the play itself. I just don't believe in characters who, under such pressure to escape, would just bicker at each other when the enemy is just around the corner. Maybe that was the point of the play, but it doesn't resonate with truth. Some characters don't want to shoot the Japanese prisoner because it will make too much noise and alert the enemy, but that doesn't stop them from yelling at the top of their voices! No one considers an idea to just tie up the prisoner and leave him behind as they make their escape and they just dawdle for the sake of more dialogue scenes about justice and seniority. The characters have some interesting ambiguities; Harvey is a barrackroom lawyer but has the most tactical nouse, Todd is a hard bitten professional solider but cannot control his section and Harris is the bully who surrenders at the end. But if this is a piece of wartime kitchen sink drama, designed to expose hypocricy in the British army, then it doesn't work. "The Hill" is a far, far better film that deals with these issues.