The 7th Dawn (1964)

At the end of WWII, three friends who fought the Japanese in Malaya take different paths. William Holden becomes a wealthy rubber plantation owner in Malaya, Capucine becomes an activist school teacher and Tetsuro Tamba (YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE) becomes a communist revolutionary. But several years later, fate reunites them with tragic consequences. I don't know as this film is discussed much, it seems rather forgotten. So I was surprised at how strong it was, both as an action adventure and as a rumination on loyalty, friendship and idealism. I think I would have enjoyed it a little more however, if its bleak ending wasn't so inevitable. We need something to root for, don't we? But if we realize it's never going to come, it takes away that ray of hope that keeps us pulling for its protagonists. Strong direction by Lewis Gilbert (ALFIE) with the BAFTA nominated cinematography of Freddie Young (DOCTOR ZHIVAGO) and an exotic score by Riz Ortolani. Unexpectedly, Capucine in an atypical role as Holden's Eurasian mistress who becomes an innocent pawn in a game of treachery by both the British colonials and the Marxist revolutionaries gives the film's best performance. With Susannah York, Michael Goodliffe, Beulah Quo, Maurice Denham and Allan Cuthbertson.