By Lee Pfeiffer
Among the plethora of WWII dramas set in POW camps, Bryan Forbes' 1965 film King Rat is among the grimmest. The problem with many of these films, including the classic The Great Escape, is that the conditions depicted in the prison camp are benign enough that one wonders why anyone risks their life to escape. Not so with King Rat, which afforded George Segal one of his first and most important roles as a leading man. Segal is Corporal King, a low-ranking soldier who has managed to manipulate his way to being the de facto top-ranking officer among Allied prisoners in a Japanese POW camp. Through cunning, conning and cheating, King has established himself as the indispensable man: someone who can get decent food, medicine and other life-saving commodities for a price. Consequently, his superior officers not only defer to him but patronize him as well, hoping to get special goods and favors. King's relative riches afford him a lifestyle that is resented by many. His uniform is pristine, his hair neatly combed and he barely breaks a sweat even in the midst of the tropical hellhole he resides in. He also has a band of slavishly loyal minions who do his bidding, including superior officers.
When King encounters a ballsy British soldier named Marlowe ( a great performance by James Fox), who refuses to be intimidated by him, King is impressed enough to make him a partner in his con games. The two men orchestra an audacious plot to breed rats and sell them as a delicacy to unwitting officers who think they are eating rabbit. Additionally, the men devise profit-making plots selling fax Rolex's to Japanese guards for inflated prices. Seemingly, the only honest officer left in the camp is Grey (Tom Courtenay), a British lieutenant who doggedly pursues bringing King to justice amidst the camp's corrupt justice system.Â
King Rat is slow-going, but never less than engrossing. There are no major action set pieces in the film, but there is a good deal of suspense as the noose begins to tighten around King and his cohorts as the war draws to a close. It's all expertly directed by Bryan Forbes from a screenplay by James Clavell. Segal is mesmerizing throughout. His King is an indisputable louse, but a man who lives by his own warped standard of honor. While he feeds his fellow prisoners rat meat, he puts his life on the line to help his confederates. Segal's performance is equaled by those of a superb supporting cast that includes Fox, Courtenay, John Mills, Patrick O'Neal, Denholm Elliott, Teru Shimada and Richard Dawson. James Donald also co-stars, and he must hold the record as the king of WWII prison camp movies, having also appeared in The Bridge on the River Kwai and The Great Escape. The production, one of the last major films shot in black-and-white, is gloriously photographed by the great Burnett Guffey. There is also an impressive score by John Barry.Â
The widescreen DVD doesn't have any extras except trailers for The Guns of Navarone, the 1960s reissue of The Bridge on the River Kwai and a bizarre, abbreviated trailer for From Here to Eternity. Ironically, there is no trailer for King Rat.
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