Australian director Noyce puts Graham Greene's 1955 novel in the context of the Vietnam War - a state of affairs viewed dimly by the movie's US backers, post September 11.

However, following reported lobbying by the film's star, Caine, this eloquent indictment of American dirty tricks in 1950s Indochina mercifully sees the light of day.

Thank God for that, for it would have been a travesty if Caine's luminous portrayal of world-weary Times correspondent, Thomas Fowler, gathered dust on the shelf any longer.

Fowler maintains a low-key existence in Saigon, apolitically reporting the gathering storm while preoccupied with the company of his adored young mistress Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen).

Then into his life strides clean-cut Yank, Alden Pyle (Fraser), an apparently innocent yet self-righteous worker for the shady American Economic Aid Mission.

Seismic shocks undermine Fowler's comfortable existence when the dynamic Pyle attempts to woo Phuong from the older, married man, who finds himself rocked out of his lethargy.

At the same time, Fowler discovers that Pyle may not be all he seems and his practiced policy of fence-sitting has to come to an end.

"Sooner or later one has to take sides if one is to remain human," Fowler is warned as the political intrigue running through Indochina erupts into violence.

Joseph Mankiewicz's 1952 original adaptation smoothed over CIA 'Third Way' shenanigans - Noyce doesn't offer them that courtesy.

But it's Caine's magisterial, yet sublimely understated performance that captures the essence of Greene's complex moral tale as his world threatens to fall apart.

The master is well served by Christopher Hampton and Robert Schenkkan's literate script, while Fraser's spot-on Pyle shows he's more than a Mummy's boy.

The Quiet American is something to shout about. Loudly.

Tim Evans