The culmination of director Carol Reed's brilliant quartet of post-war films, following Odd Man Out, The Fallen Idol and The Third Man. It's based on a typical Joseph Conrad novel that has a lot in common with the also-filmed Conrad story Lord Jim, in that it deals with a 'lost' man wandering the ports of Far Eastern seas - a role in which Trevor Howard gives a haunting performance, although most of the film's publicity headlines were won by Kerima as the sultry and highly desirable native girl who proves his downfall. Reed directs with great sympathy, and some outstanding location photography by John Wilcox adds immeasurably to the atmosphere. The climax, although different to the ending of the book (in which the story goes on quite a bit further) is admirably suited to Conrad's conception of the character. The only Reed work comparable with these early films from his later period, 'Our Man in Havana', is strangely also about an individual adrift in tropical surroundings.


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