User reviews

I remember first seeing this as a ten year old in the mid 1970s and being very confused , you see I was under the impression that this was going to be a war film , but was disappointed there wasn`t much fighting in it . I was also utterly confused by the tone of the film as there was bits that I took to be funny but didn`t make me laugh

I did see THE VIRGIN SOLDIERS a couple of more times when I was much older and understood it better , this is a black comedy , a very black one about the exploits of private Briggs a young soldier doing his national service out in Malaya during the state of emergency in the early 1950s and I guess it`s a fairly good indication of what life was like for a great number of young lads inducted into the British army at the time . If the film has a problem being viewed today it`s down to the fact that it`s difficult not to judge it against Vietnam war films like PLATOON ( Both films feature a plot between two sergeants who hate one another ) and FULL METAL JACKET ( Another black comedy dealing with a conflict in the far east ) , but THE VIRGIN SOLDIERS should be judged on its own merits . I found it as an adult both funny and scathing

Having seen this again i must say it gets better. I view it from the perspective of a soldier serving in Malaya, as it was at the time, in the mid-1950's the period in which the film is set. So much of the behaviour is very true to the real thing. In fact i almost see it as a commentary on army life at the time. The plot is almost credible , you would have to have been there. The 'atmosphere' of the period and place is captured in the b+w format. If anyone wants to know what army life was like in mid 1950's Malaya then this film will tell you more than any academic study. It certainly reflects the peculiar fun and horrors of National Service life. The plot thins towards the end but what precedes it makes viewing worth while.

Not a normal war movie, this is a well acted study about the unpredictable fortunes of life. A British Army private in Singapore during the Malaysian uprising experiences the boredom of garrison duty, the search for sex and love, and finally the terror of combat. The movie has many interesting twists and turns that illustrate the random quality of luck. The private's girlfriend finally decides to surrender her virginity - only mistakenly offers it to the wrong soldier! Soldiers die accidently, without reason. And when the private panics, and flees combat, he ends up becoming a hero! At the end of the movie the private paraphrases his discoveries - "That's life, isn't it".

'The Virgin Soldiers' concerns a collection of new recruits (in national service) and their exploits in a far-off, exotic Singapore. Deals with the endless boredom, fear of fighting an enemy they had no knowledge or concept of (they were never meant to have seen any action) and the endless pursuit of sexual conquests. Sterling cast of Lynn Redgrave, Hywel Bennett and Nigel Davenport. Based on the highly successful novel of the same name.

I am just watching this again, only for the second time, since I first saw it in 1970 as a fresh faced 18 year old. It's on Movies 4 Men, which says something I think. It's amazing how many famous face are here. Hywel Bennett is the star in this movie. He was big in the 60's. The story covers the antics of young men doing their national service out in Singapore, with all of the angst that young men have about their sexuality and life in general. The soldiers are not front line infantry but clerks. Warren Clerk and Christepher Timothy stand out. Disgruntled NCO's and snotty officers are part of the background. It's not a great film but it's well made and interesting. I give it 7/10 because of the memories of sitting in a cinema and being able to smoke a cigarette with normal people. Never see those days again ....

So long since seeing this film I can hardly remember it. However, I have since learnt that a very young David Bowie has a tiny cameo. It's on Youtube if you're interested.

I saw this film on late-night TV in the 1970's, a few years after doing a tour in Vietnam as a 20-year-old GI in the US Army. Even though it's a different time and a different war, I really thought "The Virgin Soldiers" captured a lot of the feeling of a young, western soldier serving in a confusing, brutal, sometimes even humorous Asian war zone. One of the most realistic things was, these guys were young, like most soldiers in most wars, kind of scared, and having to face the reality of shooting the guy in the other uniform before he shoots you. And I definitely recognized a fair number of the characters, especially the sergeants. War movies often stereotype or simplify the NCO's. In reality, and in this movie, some of them are bullies, some are flat-out cowards, and some are competent, quietly heroic people who do their best to keep their troops alive in the combat zone. War is not a good thing, but how people cope (or don't cope) with it will always be a fascinating topic. I highly recommend this film...wish it was on tape or DVD.

Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first, shall we? The production values are, at best, mediocre. The film was shot on a very low budget. The characters are severely stereotypical, from the two goof-off buddies always looking to get laid, to the overbearing sergeant, to the bumbling officer in charge. You have seen these characters before in MASH, GOMER PYLE, BILKO, Soldier in the Rain, and others. And did I mention the battle scenes were not as realistic as the ones we used to make up in West Paterson playing in the woods as kids? Despite these shortcomings, the film is a wonderful success because of the writing in the script. The story is not only believable, but actually contained events that many GIs went through in the late 60s and early 70s. It was reminiscent of the film Biloxi Blues, which came much later, but imitated several of the scenes in this film. There are some unforgettable hilarious scenes in this movie; especialy one that I will not spoil for you, that was imitated later by Dustin Hoffman in a famous bedroom scene. A real treat for those who served in the military during the late 60s, early 70s. You will need an interpreter, however, because there are no subtitles for the British form of English. Quite funny, nevertheless.

As a piece of semi-biographical history of recent colonial history in Malaya soon after World War II, you could probably do much, much worse than to see this rollicking black comedy. But, this is not a war story to be compared with Platoon (1986) and such like: this a young man's story where war, although present, is something to be avoided, at all costs.

The film is distinctive for a number of reasons: it deals with a politically painful episode in British history – the communist insurgency in Malaya; it was shot on location – Singapore and Malaysia – barely ten years after the British departed en masse; it has a bevy of experienced actors who fill the roles of tight-lipped colonials with flair and even brilliance; it was fun to spot three bit players who went on to stardom later in life (read through the full cast list); and, above all, it's a very personal story about a young man (Hywel Bennett as Pvt. Brigg) and his coming of age while serving as a National Service conscript.

Having served, myself, in the Australian colonial administration in Papua-New Guinea in the early 1960s, I can assure viewers that much of what you see in this movie is more or less what I experienced and observed where I was. And, for what it's worth, I can also relate to Pvt. Brigg's story in many ways...

In a nutshell, Brigg is enamored by the daughter (Phillipa played by Lynn Redgrave) of RSM Raskin (Nigel Patrick, in a standout performance). But, Brigg is also very much interested in a local prostitute, Juicy Lucy (the sublimely effervescent Tsai Chin), mostly as a means to lose his virginity. Phillipa, for her part, is also determined to lose her virginity to whomever – largely as a response to her father's disparaging comments about her sexual orientation. In the wings, so to speak, there is Top Sergeant Driscoll (the ever-so-suave Nigel Davenport), always ready to come to the aid of a female in, er, distress. How the shenanigans of that quartet pan out forms the substance of Brigg's story – a deliciously ironic narrative that guarantees viewer satisfaction.

As a backdrop to that story, the gradual deterioration of British rule intrudes (riots, communist insurgents, a derailed train, attack and counter-attack) to show (mostly comedic) vignettes of many other characters who form the group of service men within which Brigg serves. For example, I was almost helpless with laughter as I watched the inevitable, drunken deterioration of the men and women at the local mess hall dance: déjà vu, and then some. Be sure to watch and listen carefully as officers carefully navigate the hall, ignoring and stepping over drunken, supine revelers with skill as they discuss coming action. And, quite daring for the times, the antics of two gay recruits throughout this film is a continual comedic delight.

The full color photography captures the tropics perfectly; the dialog is excellent; the action scenes and editing more than adequate; the acting is, for me, spot on – and redolent of real people I mixed with, long ago; and even the bold, loud marching sound track suited the story.

If you're getting on in years, like myself, then you'll relate to those times depicted with ease, I would think; if you're young and ready to change the world, see how these young men did it sixty years ago. Either way, this is a movie I recommend highly for young and old adults alike.

Give this one a good, solid eight, for sure.

September 30, 2012

I had assumed that The Virgin Soldiers would be a light-hearted, bawdy slice of British sexploitation in the vein of the Carry On, Confessions and 'Adventures of…' series, but it turned out to be a far more realistic affair, and actually proved all the better for it. The film stars Hywel Bennett as Brigg, a young conscript in the National Service, stationed in Singapore during the early 1950s. Working as a clerk, Brigg hopes that the only action he will see is with the local ladies and a sergeant's daughter, Phillipa (Lynn Redgrave), but he finds himself in mortal danger when he and his fellow conscripts see active duty against rioters and bandits.

While there are some mildly funny and a few sexy moments to be had, the film works best as a touching coming of age drama and a poignant anti-war film: as Brigg counts down the days to his return to good old Blighty, he makes the transition from untainted youth to worldly-wise young man, experiencing camaraderie, love (of sorts), fear, and even death, forced to kill or be killed. Bennett is brilliant in his role, displaying just the right amount of wide-eyed innocence, and he is given able support from a raft of familiar British faces, including Nigel Davenport as Sgt. Driscoll, Christopher Timothy (All Creatures Great and Small) as Cpl. Brook, Geoffrey Hughes (Coronation Street) as Lantry, Jack Shepherd (Wycliffe) as Sergeant Wellbeloved, and Wayne Sleep as Villiers, the toughest soldier in the platoon (nah, just kidding).

I loved both the film and the book of "The Virgin Soldiers", but I personally believe that "The Green Virgin Corporal" is a better book and would make an excellent film. The "Green Virgin Corporal" is a story very similar to the "The Virgin Soldiers" and was about a naïve corporal who served in Malaya about the same time as time described in "The Virgin Soldiers". The book "The Green Virgin Corporal" is available through Amazon Books