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Taylor takes his silence as agreement. -- Finally, one day, the camp commandant summons the senior British
officers and notifies them that the Japanese have surrendered and that the war is over. Later, a single British
paratrooper (Richard Dawson) walks up to the prison gates and disarms the guards. -- After overcoming their shock
and disbelief, the prisoners celebrate - all except King. He realizes he is no longer the unquestioned (if unofficial)
ruler of the camp. He manages to squelch a premature attempt by resentful underling Sergeant Max (Patrick O'Neal)
to reassert his rank and authority, but that only delays the inevitable. When Marlowe speaks to him before his
departure back into the ranks of the U.S. Army, King ignores his overture of renewed friendship. -- King's unit
sleeve patch is that of the U.S. 34th Infantry Division, which fought the Germans in North Africa and Italy, not the
Japanese.
{4th of July, 2011} imdb: King Rat (1965) Movie - A viewer rating of 7.6
stars out of 10 stars
The Japanese prisoner-of-war camp Changi in Singapore, which houses Allied POWs, is a living hell. The great
mass of POWs are living at a sub-human subsistence level. US Army Corporal King has been living up to his
surname, through his control of the camp's black market, and by scamming the officers and other POWs. King has a
facility for making deals with the Japanese to obtain the contraband he sells to the POWs. His nemesis is British
Lieutenant Robin Grey, the camp provost marshal, a humorless, intense martinet who survives through his strict
adherence to the British articles of war, which forbid collaboration with the enemy. He is suspicious of King, and is
determined to catch him and bring him to justice. The humorless Grey is an upright, uptight moral prig who has
been as badly damaged psychologically as any of the other POWs. The high-living King befriends a genteel young
British soldier, Peter Marlowe, who at first resists his blandishments, and then succumbs, to his charm. The POWs
become aware that the war is drawing to its end, and King and Marlowe grow concerned that the brutal Japanese
guards may slaughter the prisoners before they can be liberated. King and Marlowe are determined to raise a large
amount of money to buy their freedom by bribing their captors. One of the schemes that King devises is to raise the
meat of deer mouse, a native delicacy, to sell to the officers and any POW who can afford it. Conditions are so
desperate in the camp, that POWs are stealing rations form one another in order to stave off starvation. This is
another one of King's scams, as the "mouse deer' are actually rats, the breeding stock for which have been the rats
that have fed off the corpses of dead POWs. The desperate situation in the camp is exacerbated by the brutality of
the Japanese guards, and by the senior British officers' predilection for breaking the will of the POWs in order to
maintain camp discipline. Resistance, thus, is futile, and with no other outlet, the animosity of the POWs has to be
channeled against each other. It becomes quite apparent that, aside from Lieutenant Grey and the dead, everyone in
the camp is corrupt. Corporal King merely stands out, as he is Jack-the-Lad, The King-of-the-Hill, King of the
Camp, KING RAT. Written by Jon C. Hopwood -- Trivia: Some of the actors had been POWS in the Second World
War. Denholm Elliott, while serving in the RAF, had been shot down and taken prisoner by the Nazis.
{4th of July, 2011} King Rat the Movie part 1 of 10 (YouTube)
Note: Youtube has removed parts 2-10.
{4th of July, 2011} Edward Trimnell discusses James Clavell's 1962
debut novel, 'King Rat' - "What is good, what is evil? - How do people
interact?" - "The novel is not an adventure script but is primarly a book
of ideas" (YouTube)
King Rat is set in a Japanese POW camp in 1945. This video introduces the two major characters of King Rat, as
well as the themes explored in the book. From EdwardTrimnell.com.
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