The Highest Honor (1982)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Directors:

Seiji Maruyama
Peter Maxwell

Writers:

Lee Robinson (writer)
Katsuya Susaki (Japanese dialogue)

Release Date:

1984 (USA)

Genre:

War | Drama

Plot:

The true story of a daring raid on Japanese-occupied Singapore Harbour by Australian and British troops during WWII.

Plot Keywords:

WWII | Indonesia | Japanese Occupation | Australia | Execution

Cast

Michael Aitkens	...	Maj. R.M. Ingleton
Craig Ballard	...	Lt. B. Raymond
Vincent Ball	...	Lt. Cmdr. Hubert Marsham
James Belton	...	Lt. H.R. Ross
Steve Bisley	...	A.B. W.G. Falls
Tony Bonner	...	Lt. W.G. Carey
Alan Cassell	...	Lt. Ted Carse
Warren Coleman	...	Leading Seaman K.P. Cain
Slim DeGrey	...	Leading Stoker J.P. McDowell
George Duff	...	Cpl. A.G. Campbell
Tim Elston	...	Sgt. D.P. Gooley
Ken Goodlet	...	Bill Reynolds
John Griffiths	...	Sgt. C.B. Cameron
Riki Harada	...	Sgt. Imai
Michael Harris	...	LCpl. J.T. Hardy
Mark Hembrow	...	Able Seaman F.W. Marsh
Noel Hodda	...	Able Seaman M.M. Berryman
Harold Hopkins	...	Cpl. C.M. Stewart
John Howard	...	Capt. R.C. Page
Andrew Inglis	...	Able Seaman A.M. Jones
Kinya Kitaoji
Hosei Komatsu
John Ley	...	Lt. A.I. Sargent
George Mallaby	...	Lt. Cmdr. Don Davidson
Atsuo Nakamura	...	Minoru Tamiya
Yû Numazaki	...	Capt. Nomura
Neil Redfern	...	WO2 A. Warren
Jiro Sakagami
Trevor Sommers	...	Sub. Lt. J.G. Riggs
Mizuho Suzuki	...	Maj. Gen. Kawamura
Jonathan Sweey	...	Cpl. A. Crilley
Hajime Tawara	...	Sgt. Maj. Omori
Garry Waddell	...	Cpl. R.B. Fletcher
Stuart Wilson	...	Lt. Gen. Ivan Lyon

Also Known As:

Heroes of the Krait (Australia) (video title)
Minami jujisei (Japan)
Southern Cross
The Highest Honour: A True Story (UK)

Runtime:

144 min | Australia:105 min

Country:

Japan | Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:PG | USA:R

Company:

Southern Films International

"Breaker Morant" meets "Dead Man Walking"

It's been so long since I've seen this movie (at least 15 years) and yet it still haunts me with a vivid image of the horrific consequences that prisoners of war can face despite the terms of the Geneva Convention.

A unit of Australian underwater demolitions experts are captured in an archipelago near Japan following a successful mission to set mines in a Japanese harbor.

Once in prison these men expect the same treatment as any other POWs but to their dismay soon learn from a friendly Japanese prison guard that they are being tried as spies since they were out of uniform when captured. The consequences of such an infraction, by Japanese martial code, is execution by beheading.

Despite their pleas, and the pleas of the sympathetic prison guard, the day of reckoning approaches like a ticking time bomb. The tension is so high you will actually hear the ticking, though it may just be your chest pounding with the percussion of a marching execution squad.

The ending is actually too painful to reenact in my head much less write it here. But I can promise you-- you'll never forget it. Good luck finding the video in the U.S.