Review – The Quiet American (1958)

It’s almost hard to believe that Vietnam ever looked like this to American eyes. This first film production of Graham Greene’s novel suffers from many of the drawbacks of the 21st century remake while sporting few of the benefits. Production values are mid-range at best, the acting is mediocre and the script is terrible. But worst of all is Audie Murphy, playing the boyish-yet-sinister American agent with very little of the yet-sinister quality so essential to the story (but so unacceptable to late 50s audiences, one supposes). The result comes across almost entirely as a love triangle gone bad, robbing the production of the geopolitical elements that might have made it a much more interesting snapshot of western involvement in Indochina before it became the overwhelming mess of the 60s and 70s. Mildly amusing