King Rat (1965 film)
| King Rat | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Bryan Forbes |
| Produced by | James Woolf |
| Screenplay by | Bryan Forbes |
| Based on |
King Rat 1963 novel by James Clavell |
| Starring |
George Segal Tom Courtenay James Fox |
| Music by | John Barry |
| Cinematography | Burnett Guffey |
| Edited by | Walter Thompson |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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134 min |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
King Rat is a 1965 World War II film directed by Bryan Forbes, and starring George Segal as Corporal King and James Fox as Marlowe, two World War II prisoners of war in a squalid camp near Singapore. Among the supporting cast were John Mills and Tom Courtenay. The film was adapted from James Clavell's novel King Rat (1962), which in turn is partly based on Clavell's experiences as a POW at Changi Prison during the Second World War.
Corporal King (George Segal) is an anomaly in the Japanese prison camp. One of only a handful of Americans amongst the British and Australian inmates, he thrives through his conniving and black market enterprises; whereas others, nearly all of higher rank, struggle to survive sickness and starvation while trying to keep their civilised nature. King recruits upper class British RAF officer Flight Lieutenant Peter Marlowe (James Fox) to act as a translator. As they become acquainted, Marlowe comes to like the man and appreciate his cunning. King respects Marlowe, but his attitude is otherwise ambiguous; when Marlowe is injured, King obtains expensive medicines to save Marlowe's gangrenous arm from amputation, but, despite the fact he stays by the sick man's bedside, it is unclear whether he does so out of friendship or because Marlowe is the only one who knows where the proceeds from King's latest and most profitable venture are hidden.
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