A Town Like Alice

A Town Like Alice

DVD Rating: ***

Reviewed by: Angus Wolfe Murray

Read Angus Wolfe Murray's film review of A Town Like Alice

Comment: The documentary is 25 minutes of interview and waffle. It's interesting to discover that the majority of the filming took place in and around Pinewood studios. Virginia McKenna remembers that "we had to act as if we were boiling hot when we were frozen stiff."

Jack Lee sent a second unit to Malaya, where doubles were used in long shots of the women's march. Noone left England, except McKenna and Peter Finch, who flew to Alice Springs for a few days of work.

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Jean Anderson remembers the chicken eating scene. The whole cast went down with salmonella poisoning. There was no evacuation to the sanatorium. "Next day we had to do it again," she says. "With another chicken." The three interviewees are good value.

The written biogs of McKenna, Finch and Lee are minimal and the trailer gives no indication of the quality of the film.

Reviewed on: 14 Dec 2001
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A Town Like Alice packshot
Drama, based on true story, capturing the heroism of British women during the Japanese occupation of Malaya in World War Two.
Amazon link

Product Code: 37115 01653

Region: 2

Ratio: 4:3

Sound: Dolby Digital

Extras: Documentary; stills gallery; trailer; biographies


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