Looking at this bunch out on patrol in the China/Burma/India theater of World War II I was reminded of what Clark Gable said to Charles Laughton about the impressed seaman on the Bounty, them not being king and country volunteers. Sergeant Richard Todd has his hands full keeping good discipline and order with crew in The Long And The Short And The Tall. Using that British wartime ballad as a title tells about all the different types one gets in the Armed Services.
So it is in this film where Sergeant Richard Todd has a mission which he figures is a light one. Just go out to get background recordings of jungle sounds to be played in real battle to confuse the enemy. But the Japanese are also full of tricks. This patrol is drawn into enemy held area and then the idea is for the British soldiers to get out alive.
Based on a stage play and the stage roots of his project aren't all that well concealed, the patrol captures a Japanese scout. Just his presence among them brings a breakdown in discipline that spells disaster. It is inevitable in war that one does not see the enemy as human. If you did you couldn't kill them. The more popular the war, the more that spreads to the civilian sector.
Standing out among the patrol members are Richard Harris and Laurence Harvey who would dislike each other intensely in civilian life in any event. Harvey in fact has no kind words for anybody. With him it's like is Joe Lampton character from Room At The Top went off to war, most likely drafted.
The Britsh whose island nation was threatened far worse than continental USA have this film as being the first at least I know of to show their fighting men as less than heroes. The film's main weakness is not successful transition to the screen from the stage. But the acting is vivid especially from Todd, Harris, and Harvey.
