person or book cover
Jean (Virginia McKenna) and Joe (Peter Finch) meet.
form y separately published work icon A Town Like Alice single work   film/TV  
Adaptation of A Town Like Alice Nevil Shute , 1950 single work novel
Issue Details: First known date: 1956... 1956 A Town Like Alice
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Film Details - Rank Organisation , 1956

Producers:

Joseph Janni (Producer)
Earl St. John (Executive Producer)

Production Companies:

Rank Organisation
Vic Films Productions

Director of Photography:

Geoffrey Unsworth

Editors:

Sidney Hayers

Production Designers:

Alex Vetchinsky

Composer:

Matyas Seiber

Cast:

Incl. Virginia McKenna (Jean Paget), Peter Finch (Joe Harman), Kenji Takaki (Japanese Sergeant), 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), Munesato Yamada (Captain Takata), Nakanishi (Captain Nishi), Ikeda (Kempetei Sergeant), Otokichi Ikeda (Kempetei Sergeant), Geoffrey Keen (Solicitor), June Shaw (Mrs Graham), Armine Sandford (Mrs Carstairs), Mary Allen (Mrs Anderson), Virginia Clay (Mrs Knowles), Bay White (Mrs Davies), Philippa Morgan (Mrs Lindsay), Dorothy Moss (Mrs O'Brien), Gwenda Ewen (Mrs Rhodes), Josephine Miller (Daphne Adams), Edwina Carroll (Fatima), Sanny Bin Hussan (Mat Amin), Charles Marshall (Well Digger), Jane White (Brenda), Cameron Moore (Freddie), Margaret Eaden (Jane), Dominic Lieven (Michael Rhodes), Peter John (Timothy), Meg Buckenham (Mary Graham), Geoffrey Hawkins (Robin), Sam Kydd (Australian driver), Peter Madden (Aussie POW Extra), Russell Napier (Jack Burns).

Release Dates:

1. British premiere held on 6 March 1956 (London). Later release dates include Sweden (13 August 1956); Japan (31 October 1956); Finland (23 November 1956); Denmark (27 February 1957); USA (21 September 1958, New York City).
2. Released on videocasstte format in the late 1980s by Rank Video. Rereleased on DVD format in 2005 by Granada International.

Location:

  • Filmed on location in Malaya and Australia. Additional scenes shot at Burnham Beaches and Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath (Buckinghamshire, England).

Awards:

  • British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BASFTA) Awards (1957) Best British Actor - Peter Finch (winner)
  • British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BASFTA) Awards (1957) Best British Actress - Virginia McKenna (winner)
  • British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BASFTA) Awards (1957) Best British Film (nomination)
  • British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BASFTA) Awards (1957) Best British Film of any Source (nomination)
  • British Society of Cinematographers (1956) Best Cineamatography - Geoffrey Unsworth (nomination)

Notes:

1. Also known as La Mia Vita Comincia in Malesia (Italy); Ma vie Commence en Malaisie (France); Marsch Durch die Hölle (West Germany); Mi Vida Empieza en Malasia (Spain); Rape of Malaya (USA); Våld i Malaya (Sweden); Viisi Mustaa Kanaa (Finland).

Subjects:
  • Alice Springs, Southern Northern Territory, Northern Territory,
Settings:
  • Malaya, Southeast Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
  • Alice Springs, Southern Northern Territory, Northern Territory,
  • 1941-1946
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