This was briefly available on a store exclusive dvd boxset many years ago but this is the first separate release and it`s about time !

Superb acting belies the low-budget studio- bound production as a British patrol slowly starts to unravel from within as the Japanese close in.Not sure about Richard Harris` accent but the dialogue is cynical and griping and you rather feel some members of the patrol would rather kill each other than the advancing Japanese.Tough,gritty and Richard Todd in a surprisingly unsympathetic but welcome role.Watch out for an initially annoying trouble-maker, superbly played by Laurence Harvey, who proves the most moralistic of the bunch as he tries to protect a Japanese prisoner from his colleagues-most of which want to "do away" with him.The prisoner brings even greater conflict within the group which makes fascinating viewing.

Don`t expect lavish battle scenes as the film doesn`t have them and quite frankly doesn`t need them.It`s certainly one of the best British war films and one of the few to feature the war in Burma.Another notable release with a similar premise is "Yesterday`s Enemy"(1959)starring Stanley Baker which is just as good if not better .Sadly this has never had a commercial release and almost impossible to obtain now.Both quality British films which have been forgotten for far too long.