Virginia McKenna and Peter Finch star in this moving story about a party of women compelled to trek through the Malayan jungle during World War II, as no Japanese office will take responsibility for their care. Based on Nevil Shute's best selling novel, the film tells how the women come to terms with their hardships, and how they are befriended by a tough Australian prisoner of war who dreams of returning to his home town of Alice Springs.


viewer's comments:

- Real Life!
This film is in the same league as the series Tenko for it's realism. I have also watched the mini series which could have it's moments too but the film wins because of the fact that it was made around a decade after it had happened, when things must have been quite fresh in everyones minds. These women were taken captive as the men were but they were not wanted by anyone. These women were far away from home with no clothes apart from what they stood up in, no money and they didn't speak the language. Given those fact the thoughts are so scary!


- A great movie
Its wonderfully acted. Hard to believe this was based on a true story. I can't believe these women marched hundreds of miles, having nothing to eat much of the time and some of their companions dying along the way. They must have been a hardy bunch. Its too bad more people couldn't see this movie. Virginia McKenna and Peter Finch were excellent as the main characters and the rest of the supporting cast were very good too


- A strong story makes for a good film
A Town Like Alice is now an old film. However it has a certain directness and freshness which makes it quite watchable.

A Town like Alice is the story of an English nurse, who is trapped in Malaya with a group of Englihs women during the Japanese invasion. As the group can't be categorised by the Japanese army into a useful pigeonhole, they are forced to walk from city to city looking for a place to be prisoners-of-war.

The story is a strong one and the movie doesn't let the book down. Shot in excellent locations in Malaysia, the only problems are fitting the breadth of the story into a limited time.



cast: Virginia McKenna .... Jean Paget
Peter Finch .... Joe Harman
Kenji Takagi .... Japanese Sergeant (as Takagi)
Kenji Takaki .... Japanese Sergeant (as Takagi)
Tran Van Khe .... Captain Sugaya
Jean Anderson .... Miss Horsefall
Marie Lohr .... Mrs. Dudley Frost
Maureen Swanson .... Ellen
Renee Houston .... Ebbey
Nora Nicholson .... Mrs. Frith
Eileen Moore .... Mrs. Holland
John Fabian .... Mr. Holland
Vincent Ball .... Ben
Tim Turner .... British Sergeant
Vu Ngoc Tuan .... Captain Yanata.

Runtime: 111 min
Country: UK
Language: English
Color: Black and White / Color