Lord Jim (1965), directed by Richard Brooks.
quote
I've been a so-called coward and a so-called hero and there's not the thickness of a sheet of paper between them.
An earnest young First Officer in the merchant marines panics in a moment of terrible danger and is haunted by it for the rest of his life. Without even meaning to, he drifts into a chance at redemption by helping a remote Malay village fend off a slave-taking warlord. Can shame ever die?
It's natural to think of this as Lawrence of Arabia (1962) on a much more modest scale, with notions of shame and honor brought out and discussed more openly. Peter O'Toole is again the obsessed, mad-eyed Englishman using other people's wars to exorcise his inner demons.
I see aspects now I didn't when I was young: Jim is a race traitor, letting down the European side and trying to lose himself in the Asian masses. And yet, by some iron law of imperial adventure stories, he instantly becomes leader of the village resistance, organizing them in ways they never could have done themselves.
Even as a kid it seemed odd to me that The General and The Girl were not played by Asian actors. I was a little less sure this time: Eli Wallach is supposed to be Chinese or Malay, right? He speaks with a sort-of-accent, but there are other Euro villains in the story, so maybe he also is a renegade. Lovely Daliah Lavi (last seen in The Whip and the Body (1963)) is supposed to be of mixed race, so casting can be flexible here.
Misc notes:
The film seems over after the big battle, but we have another act with Gentleman Brown (James Mason) and his raiders.
Brown appeals to Jim for racial solidarity and locals suggest "perhaps your conscience is colored by your skin".
The villainy is overplayed, with Curt Jurgens particularly cartoon-like.
Even as a kid I was struck by The General's lubricious wisdom when he exposes The Girl to Jim: "A woman can satisfy all your senses at the same time".
Apocalypse Now, based on another Conrad novel, seems to quote the scene where Jim is first captured, bound and harangued by the deranged outsider.
The ethical debate becomes talky.
Some gamelon music on the score.
It's been a long time since I read the book. I recall it as more matter-of-fact, less emotionally fraught.
Available on Sony DVD-R, dual layer. It's a soft image. No subtitles. Aspect ratio is 2.20. I only saw TV versions before; at 2h34m is this cut more complete?