Graham Greene utilizes the various characters in his novel, The Quite American, to express many of the political and diplomatic viewpoints about the involvement of various countries in the affairs of the people of Indochina and Southeast Asia. Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s, The Quiet American (1958), distorts the two main characters, Thomas Fowler and Alden Pyle, away from the novel’s version so as to present a viewpoint consistent and pleasurable for the audience with the era in which the film was made. Mankiewicz also tries to keep the anti-American aspects of the story hidden during the film. Although the film closely follows the events, timeline, and even some of the dialogue of the novel, one can delve into both the novel and the film and find
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Mankiewicz’s 1958 film version, we can see the film tells us more about the era in which it is made than it does about the era it portrays. The novel has left the reader feeling that Pyle’s death regrettably is somewhat deserved due to his complicity in the bombing that had killed and maimed scores of civilians. The film version completely removes Pyle from being complicit in the bombing and instead shifts a measure of blame onto Fowler. Additionally, with America deeply in the Cold War and being involved in trying to shore up the fledgling “democracy” of the Republic of Vietnam against the threat of Communism, it was likely that Mankiewicz understood that in the era of “McCarthyism” a “Democracy vs. Communism,” “Good Guy vs. Bad Guy” film would be much more popular, and the threat of being blacklisted would be greatly decreased, than had the film appeared in anyway to be anti-American. The propaganda element of this film is most evident with the first words that appear on screen after the final scene fades to black: “To the people of the Republic of Vietnam, to their chosen President and administrators—our appreciation for their help and kindness.” The irony in this statement is that the film was recorded less than two years after President Ngo Dinh Diem, with the approval of the United States, reneges on an agreement to hold a national reunification election for all of Vietnam because it had become evident that Diem would lose handily to Ho Chi Minh and the
Mankiewicz’s 1958 film version, we can see the film tells us more about the era in which it is made than it does about the era it portrays. The novel has left the reader feeling that Pyle’s death regrettably is somewhat deserved due to his complicity in the bombing that had killed and maimed scores of civilians. The film version completely removes Pyle from being complicit in the bombing and instead shifts a measure of blame onto Fowler. Additionally, with America deeply in the Cold War and being involved in trying to shore up the fledgling “democracy” of the Republic of Vietnam against the threat of Communism, it was likely that Mankiewicz understood that in the era of “McCarthyism” a “Democracy vs. Communism,” “Good Guy vs. Bad Guy” film would be much more popular, and the threat of being blacklisted would be greatly decreased, than had the film appeared in anyway to be anti-American. The propaganda element of this film is most evident with the first words that appear on screen after the final scene fades to black: “To the people of the Republic of Vietnam, to their chosen President and administrators—our appreciation for their help and kindness.” The irony in this statement is that the film was recorded less than two years after President Ngo Dinh Diem, with the approval of the United States, reneges on an agreement to hold a national reunification election for all of Vietnam because it had become evident that Diem would lose handily to Ho Chi Minh and the