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*A Foreign Field*
A Foreign Field
Genre	Drama
Written by	Roy Clarke
Directed by	Charles Sturridge
Starring	Alec Guinness; Leo McKern; Edward Herrmann; John Randolph; Geraldine Chaplin; Lauren Bacall; Jeanne Moreau
Music by	Geoffrey Burgon
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
Production
Executive producer	Richard Broke
Producers	Martyn Auty; Steve Lanning
Cinematography	Richard Greatrex
Editor	John Bloom
Running time	95 minutes
Production company	BBC
Original release
Network	BBC
Release	12 September 1993

A Foreign Field is a 1993 British made-for-television drama film about British and American Second World War veterans returning to the beaches of Normandy as old men.^[3] It is more a drama than a comedy, although it combines aspects of both. It was directed by Charles Sturridge and featured an ensemble cast of American, Australian, British, and French actors and actresses. The title evokes the Rupert Brooke poem "The Soldier".

The film was driven into production by Alec Guinness who used his influence with the BBC to make it and with the various famous actors to appear in it. Writer Roy Clarke won much acclaim for A Foreign Field.^[4]

Plot

Cyril (McKern) and Waldo (Randolph), who are British and American, respectively, have both returned to France in search of the same woman (Moreau) with whom they each had a rendezvous in 1944 (unknown to the other). Cyril is accompanied by fellow veteran Amos (Guinness), while Waldo has his petty daughter Beverly (Chaplin) and her henpecked husband (Herrmann) in tow. Amos is childlike and carries an empty jam jar as if it is a favored toy. The two groups encounter one another, and after some conflict find common ground in old sorrows. Along the way they meet the recently widowed Lisa (Bacall), who has come in search of her brother's grave.^[5]

Eventually it is revealed that Amos saved Cyril's life during the battle of Normandy in 1944 but sustained a severe head-wound in the process. The wound has left Amos permanently brain-damaged and Cyril has been his carer ever since. Cyril also confides in the others that Amos does not have long left to live and this will be the last chance for the two men to come to Normandy to pay their respects to their close friend Briggs who was killed in action. Waldo has come to France for a similar reason, to visit the grave of a close buddy who was killed on D-Day. The trip helps put Beverly's problems into perspective. Lisa takes them to her brother's grave, revealing he was a German soldier. After a stunned pause, Angelique hugs Lisa, and then Amos gives a salute and marches off. The final scene is Briggs's grave on Omaha Beach. Amos has left his jamjar on Briggs's gravestone, and the group have filled it with wild flowers.

Cast

Alec Guinness as Amos
Leo McKern as Cyril
Edward Herrmann as Ralph
John Randolph as Waldo
Geraldine Chaplin as Beverly
Lauren Bacall as Lisa
Jeanne Moreau as Angelique

Production

The film was shot entirely around the department of Calvados, in France.

References

^ Radio Times, 11–17 September 1993, p.58.
^ The Kaleidoscope BBC Television Drama Research Guide, 1936-2011 edited by Simon Coward, Chris Perry and Richard Down, Kaleidoscope Ltd, 2011, p.2134.
^ Hayward, Anthony (23 April 2014). "Richard Broke: television producer who found himself attackde by the Tories for 'Tumbledown' and 'The Monocled Mutineer'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
^ "Roy Clarke (1930-)". BFI Screenline. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
^ Leonard, John (23 May 1994). "TV/Film". New York Magazine. Vol. 27, no. 21. p. 74. ISSN 0028-7369.