The Quiet American Page #2

Synopsis: In this adaptation of Graham Greene's prophetic novel about U.S. foreign policy failure in pre-war Indochina, Audie Murphy plays an innocent Young American opposite the older, cynical Brit Michael Redgrave. They play out their widely different views on the prospects struggle for the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people in their competition over a young woman. Murphy wants to reform her and make her a typical middle class American housewife; Redgrave accepts her inability to formulate or retain a political ideal and while promising her no real future, he objects to Murphy's attempts to change her. It's not clear whether Murphy is just what he appears - a bungling Yankee do-gooder - or a deliberate agent of U.S. covert operations.
Production: United Artists
 
IMDB:
6.8
TV-PG
Year:
1958
120 min
352 Views


Be careful you do not slip.

You see, they don't reopen in my presence.

The wounds.

They're supposed to bleed again

before the eyes of the guilty.

But then, they're frozen.

They didn't have refrigeration

in the Middle Ages.

He did not die from his wounds.

He was drowned.

We found the mud of the river in his lungs.

They should have let it happen quickly.

They?

Whoever.

You cannot help us at all?

Is it all right to smoke in here?

Who's there to object?

You recognize him?

Excuse me.

He was so determined to do good.

To people, to countries, to continents.

To the world.

Well, he was in his element now.

With the whole universe to improve.

When was it? Only a few months ago.

A lifetime ago, one might say.

It was at the Continental, I remember.

In the momentary cool

which comes to Saigon

when the working day is done.

Phuong was prolonging

her usual pre-dinner milkshake.

I was comparing the Indochinese war

being won in the newspapers at home

with the one being lost

by the French in the north.

We sat in silence.

Content to be together.

- Mr. Fowler?

- Oh, hello.

Joe Morton and I are having a drink

up on the terrace.

Would you and young lady care to join us?

Of course.

Oh, this is Ms. Hei. Ms. Phuong Hei.

- Enchante.

- How do you do?

Her unfinished milkshake

seems to be the problem.

May I?

Have you tried the milk bar

across the street?

The milkshakes are much better than here.

Uh, each morning at 11 hours,

I go there to have milkshake.

Each night at six hours, we go here.

I like there, the milkshake more better.

Bravo!

To date, her longest consecutive passage

in almost English.

It's certainly better than my French.

Of course,

the subject may have inspired her.

Milkshakes.

It's nice that the two of you

find something in common so quickly.

Well, step right up, folks,

glad to have you aboard.

Just sit anywhere.

So, what's your pleasure?

Vermouth cassis.

And Miss Phuong?

Oh, you brought your own, eh?

Well, basket parties welcome, I always say.

Uh, just the one drink, son.

Well, what do you always say?

Say?

Oh, I was thinking.

Phuong's a lovely name.

How do you spell it?

P-H-U-O-N-G.

It's the Vietnamese word for "phoenix."

Phoenix.

Fabulous bird.

Rises from its own ashes

and lives on even more beautiful.

Except that nothing nowadays is fabulous

and nothing rises from its ashes.

Not even a milkshake.

It sounds pretty hopeless.

Is that an opinion, Mr. Fowler?

- How was it?

- Routine.

You've been up north to the war,

Dominguez?

Well, where's Bill Granger?

He said he'd meet us here.

I had my car at the airport.

He took a pousse-pousse.

He should not be long.

Oh. How about that milkshake now,

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Graham Greene

Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991), better known by his pen name Graham Greene, was an English novelist regarded by many as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a reputation early in his lifetime as a major writer, both of serious Catholic novels, and of thrillers (or "entertainments" as he termed them). He was shortlisted, in 1966 and 1967, for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Through 67 years of writings, which included over 25 novels, he explored the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world, often through a Catholic perspective. Although Greene objected strongly to being described as a Roman Catholic novelist, rather than as a novelist who happened to be Catholic, Catholic religious themes are at the root of much of his writing, especially the four major Catholic novels: Brighton Rock, The Power and the Glory, The Heart of the Matter, and The End of the Affair; which are regarded as "the gold standard" of the Catholic novel. Several works, such as The Confidential Agent, The Quiet American, Our Man in Havana, The Human Factor, and his screenplay for The Third Man, also show Greene's avid interest in the workings and intrigues of international politics and espionage. Greene was born in Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire into a large, influential family that included the owners of the Greene King Brewery. He boarded at Berkhamsted School in Hertfordshire, where his father taught and became headmaster. Unhappy at the school, he attempted suicide several times. He went up to Balliol College, Oxford, to study history, where, while an undergraduate, he published his first work in 1925—a poorly received volume of poetry, Babbling April. After graduating, Greene worked first as a private tutor and then as a journalist – first on the Nottingham Journal and then as a sub-editor on The Times. He converted to Catholicism in 1926 after meeting his future wife, Vivien Dayrell-Browning. Later in life he took to calling himself a "Catholic agnostic". He published his first novel, The Man Within, in 1929; its favourable reception enabled him to work full-time as a novelist. He supplemented his novelist's income with freelance journalism, and book and film reviews. His 1937 film review of Wee Willie Winkie (for the British journal Night and Day), commented on the sexuality of the nine-year-old star, Shirley Temple. This provoked Twentieth Century Fox to sue, prompting Greene to live in Mexico until after the trial was over. While in Mexico, Greene developed the ideas for The Power and the Glory. Greene originally divided his fiction into two genres (which he described as "entertainments" and "novels"): thrillers—often with notable philosophic edges—such as The Ministry of Fear; and literary works—on which he thought his literary reputation would rest—such as The Power and the Glory. Greene had a history of depression, which had a profound effect on his writing and personal life. In a letter to his wife, Vivien, he told her that he had "a character profoundly antagonistic to ordinary domestic life," and that "unfortunately, the disease is also one's material." William Golding described Greene as "the ultimate chronicler of twentieth-century man's consciousness and anxiety." He died in 1991, at age 86, of leukaemia, and was buried in Corseaux cemetery. more…

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