The Triple Echo

In any movie where a man has to dress up like a woman, for whatever reason, there's the one genuine manly male who wants to give that so-called female a test ride wherein the truth will be discovered... So when it's stocky firebrand Oliver Reed as a World War II era tank sergeant, lusting after a deserted soldier hiding out in widowed Glenda Jackson's rural chicken farm while (romancing her and) posing as his sister, this otherwise searing romantic drama turns into a heated thriller... That's because Reed (reunited with his WOMEN IN LOVE co-star Jackson yet sharing more scenes opposite fitfully feminine/literal pretty boy Brian Deacon) is like a bomb ready to explode: in more ways than one... And he's never been so frightening and formidable, also providing Michael Apted's THE TRIPLE ECHO a sense of horror/exploitation in a bizarre curio that, while predictable, you'll have to squirm through till the end.

A rather odd film. Glenda Jackson is on a small farm as her husband is lost in WW2 in Japan and a young man starting live with her and he is going AWOL locally. For a while all seems fine and then there is the wonderful idea that he dresses up as a girl so that he will not attract attention from the army. Then comes Oliver Reed who thinks him a girl and fancies him/her. It is really silly and I rather think that Reed has decided to treat the thing as a laugh and is well over the top. In actual fact as it happens the terrible Xmas party where he takes the young man along and the scene is excellent and reminds me of Milos Forman's The Fireman's Ball (1967).

If you have ever seen this cult classic, you will have already understood my title and its meaning. Oliver Reed is magnificent in this movie and the prime reason I'm rating it a lofty nine. He's the embodiment of evil, although this is not a horror film of the supernatural. It is though a very well acted and highly disturbing drama; that once seen will never be forgotten. Possibly a reason why it never gets shown on T.V, or took an absolute age even to get a DVD release. I really wonder what a modern audience would actually make of it!?

Triple Echo, based on the H E Bates story, is a well-directed and well-acted film about a lonely woman (Jackson) on a farm who is visited by a young soldier (Deacon) and they soon become lovers. He decides to avoid being captured as a deserter by dressing as a woman and pretending he is Jackson's sister. A surly sergeant-major (Reed) falls for her (his) charms and invites the 'sisters' to a Christmas dance at the barracks. In a back room, Reed discovers 'her' real sex. The soldier escapes but is eventually caught. It is one of Reed's best performances, and although the plot is barely believable, the film is highly entertaining.

An unusual little feature which teams Glenda Jackson and Oliver Reed with, making his debut, Brian Deacon. Deacon plays an AWOL soldier who goes to Jackson for help and ends up posing as her visiting sister, a role he grows to identify with. Reed plays a sneery officer who becomes interested in the the 'sister'. Cue a rather convoluted plot which inevitably ends in tragedy. Jackson is the best thing in this - a tired, lonely farmer looking for companionship and making tough decisions. But the film is - although fascinating - ultimately unsatisfying and seems to step back from the scenario it took such care to create just as it gets interesting.