The Sand Pebbles [Blu-ray] [1966] [US Import]

The Sand Pebbles, Robert Wise's epic tale of gunboat diplomacy in the turbulent China of the mid-Twenties is hugely ambitious and hugely expensive, yet, as with the best of his work, the focus is firmly on people, the momentous political events kept in the background until their consequences begin to overwhelm the principals. Even then, they are only drawn out of the small worlds they create for themselves (for Steve McQueen his engine room, for Candice Bergen her teaching in a remote mission) for purely personal reasons.

More than any epic of the Sixties, The Sand Pebbles seems to draw heavily on the chaos and the confusion of the then ongoing Vietnam War, so it's a real surprise that Wise seemed genuinely unaware of any parallels. Yet, perhaps because of history's tendency to repeat itself, they're all too apparent in the finished film. The enemy is unclear: one minute it is the communists who are trying to incite an incident, the next Chang Kai Shek's Nationalists (although filmed in Taiwan with his approval, it is surprisingly critical of his actions). The only constant is "Yankee go home."

McQueen's engineer Holman is pointedly referred to as a symbol of his country by his ineffectual commanding officer, but what kind? He holds no opinions, preferring to put his faith in machinery rather than people or politics, yet his mere presence is divisive. Even his own countrymen and crewmates turn against him and join in with their nominal enemies in an angry demonstration against his alleged crimes. While he projects the image of the simple, honest and misunderstand ordinary man suffering a situation not of his making that America's old guard wanted to believe of their boys in Asia, he ultimately declares his independence from a fight he cannot understand ("I ain't got no more enemies") and is only drawn back from desertion to save the woman he loves but doesn't quite understand.

The contradictory and opposed feelings of the folks at home are made clear from the opening debate on whether China can be trusted with its own destiny to Larry Gates' missionary renouncing his own nationality as he prays for a Chinese victory: he may stop short of burning the flag, but he has no qualms about cursing it ("Damn your flag! Damn all flags!").

Rather than setpiece battles (although it has a doozey of one in the last act), it is a film of escalating incidents, increasingly violent and all rendered impossible to deal with by the demands of diplomacy and provoking an endless source of black propaganda. Even when the American flag is obscured by a thick cloud of opium smoke emerging from the San Pablo's smokestack, the Americans remain innocent in principle but lose the moral high ground as they either exploit the locals for their own comfort or end up fighting among themselves.

Even the Captain's attitude is confused. He talks of duty, yet runs a slack ship for fear of giving the discontented crew an excuse for mutiny, even turning a literal blind eye to one crewmember's desertion. When it matters most, his crew openly disobey him, provoking him to consider suicide before defying orders and endangering his crew in several efforts to "die clean." The film itself has been accused of being equally confused, but it simply portrays the confusion, making no judgements. No dogma triumphs in this film, no side wins: all that is left are people forced into dealing with situations that will not profit them.

Robert Anderson's script manages to give nearly all of the characters a story of their own that are integrated into the main fabric of the plot while Wise isn't afraid to take the time each scene needs rather than rushing it, and that's repaid with uniformly excellent performances. The Oscar-nominated McQueen is in complete harmony with his role and shows remarkable sensitivity in his final scene with Marayat Andriane, whose romantic subplot with a genuinely affecting Richard Attenborough overshadows McQueen's uneasy nearly-romance with a very sweet and very young Candice Bergen. Richard Crenna is outstanding as the Captain driven to thoughts of suicide and equally suicidal heroism, with good support from Mako and a mug's gallery including Simon Oakland and Joe Turkel below decks.

A replacement for Alex North, who bowed out over concerns with the film's violence, Jerry Goldsmith's score (treated to an isolated score track with brief interview extracts wit the man himself) is one of his very best. From the tense and brooding main title over the strikingly simple design of a sampan dwarfing the gunboat to the hauntingly unresolved love theme he never overplays his hand or overdoes the Oriental flavor or the big, epic cues: they're there when needed, but all the more effective for not swamping the picture. Kudos too to Boris Leven's production design and Joseph McDonald's cinematography which, with its good use of color and location, makes 35mm look like 70mm.

"The Sand Pebbles" has been one of my favourite films since I first saw it on television in 1976. It is set in 1926 in revolution-torn China, when the crew of an American gunboat, the San Pablo, is called upon to rescue some American missionaries working far up the Yang Tse river. This widescreen version does justice not just to the sweeping panoramas of the quite breathtaking Chinese scenery, but also to the sweeping events and themes of the story. It is in every way a "big" film, dealing with political and military intervention (clear parallels with Vietnam at the time of release), nationalism, racism, and the horrors of war. Yet for all its heavy themes, it is most successful in the depiction of its very human characters. These characters are not just the means of conveying the "messages" of the film, or fodder for the gripping and well-staged action scenes. They are individuals in their own right, involved in something far greater than their own destinies. Some are unpleasant and ignorant while others are honourable but lost in the sea of historic events surrounding them. Some, like Jake Holman (Steve McQueen), demand sympathy and respect as they struggle to come to terms with their personal challenges brought to the fore by these historically significant and politically dangerous events. Inevitably there are slow and confusing passages as the political implications are expounded, but these are more than compensated for by our emotional engagement as we become involved in the stories of the people caught up in the political fall-out. Robert Wise's direction is strong and emotionally charged, complemented perfectly by Jerry Goldsmith's wonderfully haunting and ominous music. Steve McQueen gives what was probably the performance of his career (receiving his only Academy Award nomination), and he is supported by a wonderful cast including Richard Attenborough, Richard Crenna, Candice Bergen (aged just 19), and especially Mako. But it is really McQueen's film. His very presence lifts scenes and he manages to convey authenticity and gain the sympathy of the viewer with consummate ease. Apparently misunderstood by some critics on its release, it is a powerful and intrinsically human anti-war film. It is not a happy film, but it is totally absorbing and thought provoking.

This is an excellant movie ,directed by Robert Wise and Starring Steve Mcqueen as Holman an american sailor accused of murder by a puppet communist state in China at the start of the last century.Steve Mcqueen gives an excellant as the tight lipped loner who has to fight his way out of a nasty situation alongside his shipmates,colourful,and exciting "The Sand Pebbles" is well worth a look I would rate it 15