La pattuglia dei 7

What at first seems to be your typical British war film about a squad of soldiers behind enemy lines in Burma actually turns out to be something far, far different - and better. THE LONG AND THE SHORT AND THE TALL is actually a morality play about the importance of human life, the nature of warfare, and mankind's humanity towards his own kind. It was based on a play and occasionally feels very staged and studio-bound, but it overcomes these flaws to become something very compelling.

What's especially good about this film is that it takes careful time to develop each of the main characters in turn. So we get Richard Todd as the tough, incredibly ruthless sergeant, and Richard Harris as his volatile corporal. Ronald Fraser does well as a man conflicted between kindness and brutality, and David McCallum is a delight as the coward of the group. Best of all is Laurence Harvey, who plays a racist on the outside but at the same time becomes the most humane one of the lot.

THE LNG AND THE SHORT AND THE TALL doesn't pack a great deal of action into the running time, but when it does occur it's incredibly hard-hitting due to the aforementioned characterisation. Kenji Takaki also deserves kudos for playing the Japanese soldier; without a single word of English, he manages to create a thoroughly sympathetic character. Less is more, and this underrated war movie is a great example of that ethos.

This war-drama was adapted from the stage. To be fair, this is not surprising, seeing as the film is very dialogue heavy with characters standing around delivering lines to each other. Each of the soldiers plays a specific role, which allows the writers to dramatize various issues. It's an anti-war movie at heart and one of the central themes is how prisoners of war are dealt with. The story itself has a group of British soldiers somewhere in the Burmese jungle surrounded by the Japanese enemy. They end up capturing an enemy soldier and this leads to different types of disharmony amongst the men in how they should treat this man. Over and above this though there is a lot of friction between the troops anyhow, as they are not a happy unit in the first place.

I wouldn't say the film is particularly believable to be perfectly honest. It seems highly unlikely that men in the midst of the vicious conflict in the Far East would ever be this philosophical about the civil liberties of an enemy soldier. However, if you suspend your disbelief, you will be rewarded as it's a well written and acted film. For a war movie there is very little action, only at the end is there really any combat. It's essentially a drama set around a combat unit. Its well worth seeking out as it seems to be a fairly obscure film. However, it's well worth your time, especially if you are a fan of older war movies.

I haven't watched this film for a long time and, having just seen it on BBC2 TV, I felt that it hasn't aged well. Perhaps it was better as a stage play? Ubercommando in his review summed it up well: "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... 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!"

The only characters I felt any sympathy for were Private Smith (who seemed the most sensible of the squad) and the Japanese prisoner. Sergeant Mitchem had an impossible task, with a hostile corporal and the intractable Pte Bamforth, but he didn't come over as a likable character. As for the others, I several times thought "what a bunch of losers".

Of course, all this was what (probably) we were expected to feel, but other films portraying a small, disparate group of men up against it have done so far better.

Enough has already been written about Laurence Harvey, who was mis-cast. OK, the character may have been a brash, street-wise London wide boy before he joined the army, but his sympathy for the prisoner did not convince.

Indeed, I believe this is the best movie ever made. I saw it first when I was a teenager, and its effect on me was astounding, although I didn't know the title. Twenty years later I learned the title, and it is still the most profound war movie ever made. It proves you don't need a gigantic budget and special effects to have a super story, and a script, in my opinion, is the biggest reason to see a movie. If you don't like great scripts, profound themes, believable characters, great acting and directing, you won't understand what makes this movie great. The characters and fight scenes are uncannily realistic, with human blows and emotions instead of the silly choreography look you get in the modern "dork" fight scenes that leave your eyes wandering in disdain. I won't give away much except to say the plot is much like The Ox-Bow Incident and Southern Comfort. Probably not for right wing war mongers, but it may be just what they need to see.

Rarely does a movie transform from the stage to the screen successfully. The Long and the Short and the Tall is one of few exceptions. A harrowing and moving story of how a group of British soldiers find themselves engaged in combat with the enemy in the Burmese jungle. Not only does the imagery capture the intense feeling of fear engaging the soldiers as they realise the enemy forces are aware of their existence, it also takes the viewer into the minds and exposes the smell of death as it envelopes the humid moment of combat. Well worth watching. One of the best war movies ever made with an all star British cast delivering a perfect script.