La femme du planteur

Sweet, docile little Claudette Colbert - firing a machine gun? Anything's possible in the movies!

Colbert and her husband live on their rubber plantation in Malaysia (back when it was Malaya) with their small son. Her husband is too absorbed in the plantation to notice her very much, and she decides that when it's time to take their son to school in England, she will go with him and never return. But then she is unable to leave when bandits kill one of their neighbours, then tries to kill Colbert, and the whole plantation is set up in a murderous game of cat and mouse.

You'd like this if you liked Red Dust with Gable and Harlow, the setting is very similar. For an added bonus, some people may remember the cartoon Riki Tiki Tavi, about a mongoose who takes care of a household and keeps the cobras at bay - this is wonderfully reproduced with a real mongoose and cobra in a thrilling scene, very reminiscent of the cartoon, even down to the same room!

This film is available (legally) on DVD in Australia in a two-movie pack with another Jack Hawkins film "The Seekers" (a.k.a. "Land of Fury" in the States). You can order it from www.ebay.com.au (for only ten Australian dollars!!!). Is also advertised on www.ebay.com in the States from another Australian source.

"The Seekers" is an important film historically in New Zealand where I live, because it's the first colour feature filmed here and features several prominent indigenous Maori actors including acclaimed opera singer Inia te Wiata who went on to perform at Covent Garden in London.

Other major international productions filmed or set in New Zealand in this period include "Green Dolphin Street" (director Victor Saville, 1947; starring Lana Turner and Van Heflin) about an Englishman thwarted in love who seeks redemption in exile in New Zealand, which won an Oscar for Best Special Effects for its earthquake scenes; "Until They Sail" (director Robert Wise, 1957; starring Paul Newman, Jean Simmons, Joan Fontaine, Sandra Dee and Piper Laurie) about GIs romancing New Zealand girls during the war; and "Two Loves" (director Charles Walters, 1961; starring Jack Hawkins again, Shirley MacLaine and Laurence Harvey) in which Shirley Maclaine is an idealistic young American immigrant school teacher amongst the impoverished Maoris battling (and in love with) the cynical Harvey and the set-in-his ways school inspector Hawkins. All the Maori roles seem to be played by Asians or Mexicans. This is also the case on "Green Dolphin Street" where all the Maoris seem to be played by Mexicans (apparently that one was filmed on a Hollywood lot).

By the time of this 1952 film, "Outpost in Malaya," Claudette Colbert's film career was on the inevitable downward trend that befell older female stars from Hollywood's golden days. If these actresses didn't want to go for the character roles, as Bette Davis did, they were for the most part out. Colbert was asked at some point why she wasn't making films anymore, and she said, "There haven't been any offers." And here's an offer she should have turned down. In this film, she's 49 years old, the mother of a small son and married to 42-year-old Jack Hawkins. The couple lives in Malaya, where Hawkins runs a rubber plantation. At the time, post WW II, Malaya was involved in a civil war. Some Malaysians didn't like the plantation owners, so they were subject to attack. A great deal of the film has scenes of gunfighting, bombings, etc.

Hawkins works nonstop to harvest the rubber crop and fight insurgents, and his wife feels separated from him and decides to leave when she takes her son back to England for school. Can they salvage their marriage? Okay movie though the beautiful Colbert, who looks great and is well dressed despite the heat and dirt, is miscast, though very good. The rugged Hawkins is very good as well. It's just not much of a movie - the subplot of marriage on the rocks was an attempt to give the film a little depth, but that doesn't really happen. Baby boomers will enjoy watching Peter Asher of Peter and Gordon as the little boy. Remember when his sister dated Paul McCartney? If you're my age, you do.

Stumbled across this film on an obscure channel late last night.As a Colbert fan I thought it would be worth a watch.Colbert looked fine for her age but the film was hardly inspiring .Even the best actors need good material and this film would only appear to a post war British audience . At the time it was probably a decent enough film but it is now seriously showing it's age.Still that's another Colbert film I've seen -not that many left to watch

One of the grimmest films ever. Here's a story about a place most people might not be able to conceive: where things are dying, where people survive off liquor, where those who are supposed to love us shove knives into our backs. It will bring you to tears and make you laugh. All characters are unhappy souls, surviving in a grim world. It's an amazing work and everything I had hoped for. From an artistic standpoint, there were some plot elements and character developments I didn't think were totally needed. They do however drive the story, which seemed to be their purpose, so I can accept them. Final rating: 7/10.