East of Elephant Rock
Encyclopedia
East of Elephant Rock is a 1977 British
independent drama
film directed by Don Boyd
and starring John Hurt
, Jeremy Kemp
and Judi Bowker
. It was Boyd's second feature film following his little-noticed 1975 Intimate Reflections
. Like William Somerset Maugham
's 1927 play The Letter
and two subsequent film adaptations, its narrative content depended on the 1911 Ethel Proudlock murder
in Kuala Lumpur
, Malaysia, which became a cause célèbre scandalising British colonial society and which had been featured in a Sunday Observer article as recently as the year before. Boyd, drawing in part on his own experience of growing up in an increasingly dysfunctional family in Kenya
during the Mau Mau rebellion
, wanted to tell a story about the decline of the Empire and the surrender of responsibility. In the event his project was for the most part ridiculed but the film did draw warm support from the film director Bryan Forbes
.
's book National Heroes: British Cinema in the 70's and 80's.
It was filmed on location in Sri Lanka
on a budget of just £100,000.
's classic film noir
The Letter
. Boyd responded, not implausibly, that he simply hadn't seen Wyler's film but he certainly knew of the Proudlock affair.
Philip French
, writing in The Times
, castigated it thus while Time Out characterised it as a "depressingly redundant sample of British independent cinema".
Alexander Walker's view was more nuanced. He praises the film's often glorious mise en scène
on a limited budget and especially valorises Jeremy Kemp
's performance but agrees the story was ineptly handled.
Bryan Forbes came to the film's defence in a letter to The Times later joking that his letter had cost him good reviews for his own films ever since.
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
independent drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
film directed by Don Boyd
Don Boyd
Donald William Robertson Boyd Hon D.Litt is a Scottish film director, producer, screenwriter and novelist...
and starring John Hurt
John Hurt
John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...
, Jeremy Kemp
Jeremy Kemp
Jeremy Kemp is an English actor. He is known for his roles in the miniseries The Winds of War, The Blue Max and Z-Cars....
and Judi Bowker
Judi Bowker
Judi Bowker is an English television and cinema actress. Her roles include Princess Andromeda in the 1981 film version of Clash of the Titans and Saint Clare in Franco Zeffirelli's 1972 film Brother Sun, Sister Moon.-Biography:...
. It was Boyd's second feature film following his little-noticed 1975 Intimate Reflections
Intimate Reflections
Intimate Reflections is a 1975 British independent drama film directed by Don Boyd and starring Anton Rodgers, Lillias Walker, Sally Anne Newton and Jonathan David. It was Boyd's first feature film and premiered at the 1975 London Film Festival...
. Like William Somerset Maugham
W. Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham , CH was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and, reputedly, the highest paid author during the 1930s.-Childhood and education:...
's 1927 play The Letter
The Letter (play)
The Letter is a play by W. Somerset Maugham dramatised from a short story that first appeared in his 1926 collection The Casuarina Tree. The story is based on a real-life scandal involving the wife of the headmaster of a school in Kuala Lumpur who was convicted in a murder trial after shooting...
and two subsequent film adaptations, its narrative content depended on the 1911 Ethel Proudlock murder
Ethel Proudlock case
The Ethel Proudlock case refers to Ethel Proudlock's 1911 trial for murder which took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The trial became a cause célèbre scandalising British colonial society....
in Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
, Malaysia, which became a cause célèbre scandalising British colonial society and which had been featured in a Sunday Observer article as recently as the year before. Boyd, drawing in part on his own experience of growing up in an increasingly dysfunctional family in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
during the Mau Mau rebellion
Mau Mau Uprising
The Mau Mau Uprising was a military conflict that took place in Kenya between 1952 and 1960...
, wanted to tell a story about the decline of the Empire and the surrender of responsibility. In the event his project was for the most part ridiculed but the film did draw warm support from the film director Bryan Forbes
Bryan Forbes
Bryan Forbes, CBE is an English film director, actor and writer.-Career:Bryan Forbes was born John Theobald Clarke on 22 July 1926 in Queen Mary's Hospital, Stratford, West Ham, Essex , and grew up at 43 Cranmer Road, Forest Gate, West Ham, Essex .Forbes trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of...
.
Plot
The film is set in South East Asia in 1948 in an unnamed British colony. Embassy secretary Nash is having an affair with a native woman. He takes as mistress the wife of a plantation owner with fateful (and fatal) consequences.Cast
- John HurtJohn HurtJohn Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...
... Nash - Jeremy KempJeremy KempJeremy Kemp is an English actor. He is known for his roles in the miniseries The Winds of War, The Blue Max and Z-Cars....
... Harry Rawlins - Judi BowkerJudi BowkerJudi Bowker is an English television and cinema actress. Her roles include Princess Andromeda in the 1981 film version of Clash of the Titans and Saint Clare in Franco Zeffirelli's 1972 film Brother Sun, Sister Moon.-Biography:...
... Eve Proudfoot - Christopher CazenoveChristopher CazenoveChristopher Cazenove was an English cinema, television and stage actor.-Early life and career:He was born Christopher de Lerisson Cazenove, the son of Arnold de Lerisson Cazenove and Elizabeth Laura in Winchester, Hampshire, but was brought up in Bowlish, Somerset...
... Robert Proudfoot - Anton RodgersAnton RodgersAnton Rodgers was an English actor and occasional director. He performed on stage, in film and in television dramas and sitcoms.-Life and career:...
... Mackintosh - Tariq Yunus ... Inti
- Vajira ... Sharmani
- Sam Poythress ... Governor General
- Geoffrey Hale ... Commissioner
Production
The film is treated at length in Alexander WalkerAlexander Walker
Alexander Walker was the son of John ‘Johnnie’ Walker of the whiskey brand. He inherited the company in 1857 and expanded its business, exporting whisky throughout the British Empire....
's book National Heroes: British Cinema in the 70's and 80's.
It was filmed on location in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
on a budget of just £100,000.
Reception
The film received an extraordinarily hostile UK press and there were suggestions that Boyd had 'ripped-off' William WylerWilliam Wyler
William Wyler was a leading American motion picture director, producer, and screenwriter.Notable works included Ben-Hur , The Best Years of Our Lives , and Mrs. Miniver , all of which won Wyler Academy Awards for Best Director, and also won Best Picture...
's classic film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
The Letter
The Letter (1940 film)
The Letter is a 1940 American film noir directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by Howard Koch is based on the 1927 play of the same name by W. Somerset Maugham, originally filmed in 1929.-Plot:...
. Boyd responded, not implausibly, that he simply hadn't seen Wyler's film but he certainly knew of the Proudlock affair.
Philip French
Philip French
Philip French is a British film critic and former radio producer.French, the son of an insurance salesman, was educated at the direct grant Bristol Grammar School, read Law at Oxford University. and post graduate study in Journalism at Indiana University, Bloomington on a scholarship.He has been...
, writing in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, castigated it thus while Time Out characterised it as a "depressingly redundant sample of British independent cinema".
Alexander Walker's view was more nuanced. He praises the film's often glorious mise en scène
Mise en scène
Mise-en-scène is an expression used to describe the design aspects of a theatre or film production, which essentially means "visual theme" or "telling a story"—both in visually artful ways through storyboarding, cinematography and stage design, and in poetically artful ways through direction...
on a limited budget and especially valorises Jeremy Kemp
Jeremy Kemp
Jeremy Kemp is an English actor. He is known for his roles in the miniseries The Winds of War, The Blue Max and Z-Cars....
's performance but agrees the story was ineptly handled.
Bryan Forbes came to the film's defence in a letter to The Times later joking that his letter had cost him good reviews for his own films ever since.
See also
- The Long Day Wanes: A Malayan TrilogyThe Long Day WanesThe Long Day Wanes: A Malayan Trilogy, also published as The Malayan Trilogy, is Anthony Burgess's novel cycle about the withdrawal from empire....
. Anthony BurgessAnthony BurgessJohn Burgess Wilson – who published under the pen name Anthony Burgess – was an English author, poet, playwright, composer, linguist, translator and critic. The dystopian satire A Clockwork Orange is Burgess's most famous novel, though he dismissed it as one of his lesser works...
' definitive fictional exploration of post-war colonial life in Malaya during the Malayan emergencyMalayan EmergencyThe Malayan Emergency was a guerrilla war fought between Commonwealth armed forces and the Malayan National Liberation Army , the military arm of the Malayan Communist Party, from 1948 to 1960....
.