Joseph L. Mankiewicz produced, wrote and directed The Quiet American, an ambitious political thriller that was the first film adaptation of Graham Greene’s bestselling 1955 novel.
Starring Audie Murphy, it was one of the first films to deal with the geo-politics of Indochina.
Humphrey Bogart was considered to play the lead role, which had been first offered to Montgomery Clift, with Laurence Olivier to play “Fowler.” When Clift withdrew for health reasons, he was replaced by Murphy and Olivier left the project.
A nave American (played by Murphy) in Vietnam, in 1952 during the French Indo-China War, clashes ideologically with an English correspondent (Michael Redgrave) in this disappointingly sanitized drama of Graham Greene’s cynical and savvy novel.
A cynical writer, who loses his objectivity, sides with the Communists who use him as a dupe and ultimately betray him. He is partially responsible for the American’s death by informing the Communist guerrillas that the American is dealing in explosives.
In an unconvincing romantic subplot, the writer’s mistress (Georgia Moll) falls in love with the American who proposes to her.
The film’s limited action sequences concern guerrilla activities against the French forces.
Greene’s attack on the U.S. and its botched foreign policy has been diluted by portraying a private American citizen, instead of an official who believes there is an alternative between Communism and French colonialism in that part of the world.
The film flips the novel on its head, turning a cautionary tale about foreign intervention into anticommunist advocacy of American power. In writing the script, Mankiewicz received uncredited input from CIA officer Edward Lansdale, who was often said to be the actual inspiration for the American character—called “Pyle” in the novel but unnamed in this film—played by Murphy.
In reality, Greene did not meet Landsdale until after completing the novel. According to Greene, the inspiration for the character of Pyle was Leo Hochstetter, an American serving as public affairs director for the Economic Aid Mission in Indochina.
The Quiet American began shooting in Saigon on January 28, 1957, then moved to Rome until late April. It was the first time a feature was shot in Vietnam.
The crew experienced various difficulties, they had to avoid shooting at noon because of the harsh shadows, they had trouble receiving permission to shoot inside Buddhist temple because of the moon’s phase, and they inadvertently helped a political protest that would otherwise have been shut down by the police, because the authorities assumed it had been staged for the film.
Murphy fell ill with appendicitis during a weekend shopping trip to Hong Kong and had to undergo an operation.
The film stirred up controversy. Greene was furious that his anti-war message was excised from the film, and he disavowed it as a “propaganda film for America.”
However, Murphy said that he never would have done the movie if the tone of the story had not changed from anti-American to pro-American.
Though artistically acclaimed, the movie was a commercial failure.
Remake:
Released by Miramax, Philip Noyce’s 2002 remake, co-starring Michael Caine and Brandon Frazer, is both more truthful of the book and more satisfying as a movie.
Cast
Audie Murphy as The American (Alden Pyle)
Michael Redgrave as Thomas Fowler
Claude Dauphin as Inspector Vigot
Giorgia Moll as Phượng (secret name Phoenix)
Bruce Cabot as Bill Granger
Fred Sadoff as Dominguez
Kerima as Phuong’s Sister (Miss Hel)
Richard Loo as Mr. Hưng
Peter Trent as Eliot Wilkins
Georges Bréhat as French Colonel
Clinton Anderson as Joe Morton
Lê Quỳnh as a playboy
