The Long and the Short and the Tall

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

Cast

Laurence Harvey

Laurence Harvey

as Pvt. 'Bammo' Bamforth

Richard Todd

Richard Todd

as Sgt. 'Mitch' Mitchem

Richard Harris

Richard Harris

as Cpl. Johnstone

David McCallum

David McCallum

as Pvt. Sammy Whitaker

Ronald Fraser

Ronald Fraser

as L / Cpl. Macleish

John Meillon

John Meillon

as Pte. Smith

John Rees

John Rees

as Pte. Evans

Kenji Takaki

Kenji Takaki

as Tojo

Reviews

drystyx

Powerful war drama. This film is IMO, the greatest war film ever made, and maybe the greatest film. Seven UK soldiers in WW2 find themselves in a predicament they didn't expect. They were supposed to run a "test" so to speak, and not see real action. That's why four of the seven are not trained ...

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