The Quiet American Blu-ray Review

• 19th Sep 2011

Michael Caine earned himself another Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Thomas Fowler in this Graham Greene adaptation.

The film set in 50’s Vietnam tells the tale of Fowler, a British reporter who lives with a young local mistress, Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen). Into their world comes American aid worker Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser) who befriends the couple and then eventually ends up going head to head with Fowler for the affections of his mistress. This is only one aspect of the film, as it is set against a brewing political climate of what would eventually become the Vietnam War.

Just looking at the names on the production side of this film, Director Philip Noyce, playwright Christopher Hampton, and well known director’s Sidney Pollack and Anthony Minghella acting as producers – it isn’t any wonder about why the film has turned out so well. It does leap into high gear a little too quickly when Pyle almost out of the blue confronts Fowler with his intentions towards Phuong. But with so much else going on in this film it shouldn’t bother too many people.

Caine is superb in the lead role. He has claimed in his book The Elephant to Hollywood that this character is perhaps the one furthest from who he really is in life which is interesting to note, and therefore even more worthy of the Acadamy Award nomination he recieved for it.

The picture quality suffers from some grain in the look, which is shame as the film is not yet 10 years old and the high definition has not been cared for as well as perhaps it should.

The extras are a few – but a real highlight is the commentary from many of the key players that have been stitched together. Unlike many cut and paste commentaries, this one was recorded with each participant knowing they are doing a commentary, and not just taken from existing audio interviews. It’s a real incite in the making of the film that more than makes up for any lack of documentary footage.

Steven Hurst