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The Quiet American [DVD] [2002]
 
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The Quiet American [DVD] [2002]

DVD ~ Michael Caine
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
RRP: £15.99
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Product details

  • Actors: Michael Caine, Brendan Fraser, Do Thi Hai Yen, Rade Serbedzija, Tzi Ma
  • Directors: Phillip Noyce
  • Writers: Christopher Hampton, Graham Greene, Robert Schenkkan
  • Producers: Anthony Minghella, Antonia Barnard, Chris Sievernich, Eyal Rimmon
  • Format: PAL
  • Language English, French, Vietnamese
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 15
  • Studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
  • DVD Release Date: 8 Sep 2003
  • Run Time: 96 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B0000AE7CB
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 4,961 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

An impressive film from director Philip Noyce, The Quiet American proves that elegant and intelligent film-making can be emotionally powerful. Michael Caine plays Thomas Fowler, a British journalist in 1950s Vietnam with a lovely Vietnamese mistress named Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen) and a jaded view of the political strife teeming around him. He befriends a seemingly innocuous American named Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser), who falls in love with Phuong--and slowly, Pyle's real purpose in Vietnam becomes revealed. Fowler finds that, to hold on to the carefully balanced life he's created for himself, he must make choices he's long avoided. Caine and Fraser are both superb and give a human face to complicated politics; as a result, The Quiet American manages to be compelling as both history and a story about very specific people embroiled in a very personal conflict. --Bret Fetzer


From the studio

· Anatomy of a Scene

· Feature Commentary with Director Philip Noyce, Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser

· Original Featurette

· Vietnam Study Guide

· Original Book Reviews

See all Reviews

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Customer Reviews

10 Reviews
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 (6)
4 star:
 (3)
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Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Greene, classic Caine, 15 Sep 2003
By Otto99 "M.A.R.Jones" (Warwickshire) - See all my reviews
  
I came to this film as a fan of both Graham Greene and Michael Caine. The screenplay is a very faithful adaptation of the novel, and the characterisation and settings are excellent. The Vietnamese scenery is stunning throughout, the mud-blasted hell of Phat Diem contrasting vividly with the polite finesse of French-Colonial Saigon. Caine dominates the picture with a mighty but human performance as Fowler, the journalist desperately trying to cling on to his relationship with young Vietnamese beauty Phuong (played by the lovely Do Thi Hai Yen). Into their world comes the quiet American, Aiden Pyle, played in a suitably underhand manner by a chubby Brendan Fraser.

The film is well-paced and the "action" sequences are very well done, particularly the infamous bombing in the square which is recreated with frightening realism. I found it all totally gripping, even though I knew the plot and the outcome. The scenes between Caine and Fraser show these two at their very best, Caine surely at yet another high in his career.

In terms of extras, you don't get much - just a documentary on the filming of the bomb sequence, which is interesting. But I often feel there is too much emphasis on DVD extras anyway - in this case the film itself is more than enough and one that will repay many viewings.

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24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Lost Love In A Lost Time, 1 Jul 2004
By Martin A Hogan "Marty From SF" (San Francisco, CA. (Hercules)) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Quiet American [DVD] [2002] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
Although Michael Caine was nominated for an Oscar for his performance, this film went largely unnoticed. That's a shame, as it presents a true love story form a period of time in a place largely ignored - 1952 Vietnam. Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine) is a married British journalist who is in love with a beautiful young Vietnamese woman and writes for the British press. He has found his true paradise. Director Philip Noyce is able to bring out the humid, romantic nuance of war-torn Vietnam. An American physician named Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser) appears out of nowhere and confesses his love for Fowler's lover. What ensues is a seemingly gentlemanly sparring for the affections of Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen). As the story unfolds, we find that Pyle is not all he seems, Fowler is less lazy than previously thought and Phuong is torn (with lots of help from her selfish sister). The revelations come slowly and subtly and the back-drop of the early fifties Vietnam is hypnotizing. By the end of the film, the surprises are revealed and nothing is what it had seemed, although the viewer is left with the nagging thought of what will happen after this?
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The seduction of American innocence, 3 Mar 2006
By Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: The Quiet American [DVD] [2002] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
Of all the films I've seen over the years concerning America's involvement in Vietnam, THE QUIET AMERICAN is perhaps the most seductive.

It's 1952, and Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine) is the aging correspondent for the London Times in Saigon. France is in the process of being tossed out of Indochina, but the former doesn't realize it yet - Dien Bien Phu is still in the future - and its military fights on ineffectually against the communists. In the meantime, Fowler submits the occasional story to the head office while finding comfort in the arms of opium and his Vietnamese mistress Phuong (Do Hai Yen), a former taxi dancer at a local club. Then, one day, THE QUIET AMERICAN Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser) shows up. Pyle claims to be with a medical aid mission in country to combat trachoma, a bacterial disease causing blindness. But what is Pyle, really? He seems awfully chummy with the conniving powers over at the U.S. legation. In any case, Alden very soon falls in love with Phuong, attention that neither the jealous Fowler can prevent nor Phuong finds particularly unwelcome.

Not since LITTLE VOICE (1998) has Michael Caine acted so powerfully, and this is perhaps his greatest role ever. An Academy Award nomination is deservedly due. Fraser is perfect as the clean-cut, idealistic and naïve Yank who may be something other than he claims. Yen is positively exquisite as the delicate Phuong. As Fowler puts it, his death would begin if he lost her.

THE QUIET AMERICAN, based on the Graham Greene novel, can be seen as an allegorical story of America's fledgling interest in succoring Vietnam from the Red Menace. After all, the French seem unequal to the task. Pyle perhaps comes to symbolically represent the American innocence that is seduced by Vietnam in the form of Phuong, and the former wishes "to save" the latter from the escalating national chaos. Only the tired and world-weary Fowler knows that this is impossible. He would "save" Phuong himself if he could, but he can't.

THE QUIET AMERICAN is an anti-war, anti-intervention film best viewed these many years after America withdrew from its Southeast Asian debacle and passions have cooled. This is one of the best films of 2002.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Like Greeks who bear gifts, beware the quiet American
"These Americans are causing a lot of trouble for us." Not the words of a Vietnamese in this film, but of the French detective charged with solving the murder of a young American... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Nicholas Casley

5.0 out of 5 stars Drama from the old school
Nothing compares when a well written novel with a simple but plausible plot meets an equally well crafted and acted movie. Read more
Published on 5 Sep 2007 by Antyllus

4.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as the book but a good try.
I do not know if Michael Caine was ideal in the role as the "burnt out" journalist in indo china.However the story is an excellent one,and one that gives an insight into the... Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2007 by Hugh M. Dowdalls

5.0 out of 5 stars Caine at his best...
Michael Caine demonstrates the versatility that first drew him to the attention of the film making moguls. Read more
Published on 7 Mar 2007 by Tom

2.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievable and confused
I thought I would give this film a go as it was one of my recommendations, and I do like Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser. Read more
Published on 26 Jan 2005 by R. Clements

5.0 out of 5 stars At the edge of the abyss
Crackling with tension from the opening scenes, this is an outstanding film. Noyce's team responds brilliantly to his direction in this tight drama about pre-American Viet Nam... Read more
Published on 27 Mar 2004 by Stephen A. Haines

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable and faithful adaptation of Graham Greene....
This adaptation of Greene's brilliant 1955 novel was sat on in the wake of 9/11, unlike the 1957 adaptation (directed by Joseph Mankiewicz), which is worth seeing, it is... Read more
Published on 1 Dec 2003 by Jason Parkes

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