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46-535: Location shooting for the film The Last Valley occurred in Trins. This Tyrol location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . The Last Valley (film) The Last Valley is a 1971 film written and directed by James Clavell , an historical drama set during the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). While war ravages southern Germany, a mercenary leader ( Michael Caine ) and

92-527: A TV miniseries in 1980, produced by Clavell, it became the second-highest-rated miniseries in history (after Roots ) with an audience of more than 120 million. A second 10-episode production of the epic was released in 2024 by FX on Hulu and FX . Clavell's fourth novel, Noble House (1981), became a best-seller that year and was adapted into a TV miniseries in 1988. Following the success of Noble House , Clavell wrote Thrump-o-moto (1985), Whirlwind (1986) and Gai-Jin (1993). Peter Marlowe

138-559: A Dutch boat fleeing to India. The commander, described by Clavell years later as a "total twit", insisted that they be dropped off at the nearest port to fight the war despite having no weapons. Shot in the face, he was captured in Java in 1942 and sent to a local Japanese prisoner of war camp . Later, he was transferred to Changi Prison in Singapore. In 1981, Clavell recounted: Changi became my university instead of my prison. Among

184-551: A German accent; so I decided to play my character like a German trying to speak perfect English. I hired dialect records and listened to them non-stop for a few days. Then I put it out of my mind and tried to speak good English but with a German’s basic speech pattern." It was the first film for Brian Blessed who recalled it "was a happy experience for everyone involved. The director and his management were inordinately kind to us, doing everything in their power to make us comfortable." In October 1970 Clavell said he had been working on

230-455: A Western at Paramount, Walk Like a Dragon (1960). In 1959, Clavell wrote "Moon Landing" and "First Woman in the Moon", two episodes of Men into Space , a "day after tomorrow"-style science fiction drama, which depicted, in realistic terms, the (at the time) near future of space exploration . In 1960, Clavell had written a Broadway show with John Sturges , White Alice , a thriller set in

276-413: A filmmaker. He produced and directed Where's Jack? (1969), a highwayman film which was a commercial failure. So too was an epic film about the Thirty Years' War , The Last Valley (1971). Clavell returned to novel writing, which was the focus of the remainder of his career. He spent three years researching and writing Shōgun (1975), about an Englishman who becomes a samurai in feudal Japan. It

322-473: A fortified city. He returns to the valley with the only other survivor of his band. Vogel tries to warn him, but the Captain rides into an ambush set by Gruber. The Captain, however, is dying of his wounds, so there is no fighting. He tells Vogel, "You were right. I was wrong." Inge, a young woman who has fallen in love with Vogel, wants to leave with him, but he tells her to stay, and walks off alone. The novel

368-528: A hit and launched Clavell as a screenwriter. He wrote Watusi (1959) for director Kurt Neumann , who had also made The Fly . Clavell wrote Five Gates to Hell (1959) for Lippert, and when they could not find a suitable director, Clavell was given the job. Paramount hired Clavell to write a film about the Bounty mutineers . It ended up not being made. Neither was a proposed movie about Francis Gary Powers made. Clavell did write, produce, and direct

414-425: A short story, " The Children's Story " (1964) and the script for The Satan Bug (1965), directed by John Sturges who had made The Great Escape . He also wrote Richard Sahib for Sturges which was never made. Clavell wanted to write a second novel because "that separates the men from the boys". The money from King Rat enabled him to spend two years researching and then writing what became Tai-Pan (1966). It

460-426: A small number of women are provided, the mercenaries leave the locals alone. The Captain takes Gruber's wife, Erica, for himself. Hansen attempts to rape a girl. When Vogel stops him, he and two others try but fail to kill the Captain. They flee, but return with a larger mercenary band before the winter closes the valley to outsiders. However, the Captain has anticipated this, and Hansen and his band are destroyed. From

506-460: A story of his, Forbidden Territory , for filming. Neither was filmed but Far Alert kept being sold and re-sold. "In 18 months it brought in $ 87,000", he later said. "We kept getting paid for writing it and rewriting it as it went from one studio to another. It was wonderful." It was later sold to Fox where it attracted the attention of Robert L. Lippert , who hired Clavell to write the science-fiction horror movie The Fly (1958). This became

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552-469: A successful film. ... As a drama, The Last Valley is not remarkable; as a reminder of what happened in Central Europe, 1618-48, and shaped the future of Germany, it reads an interesting lesson." Fraser says of the stars, "Michael Caine ... gives one of his best performances as the hard-bitten mercenary captain, nicely complemented by Omar Sharif as the personification of reason." The Last Valley

598-471: A teacher ( Omar Sharif ) stumble upon a valley untouched by the war. Based upon the novel The Last Valley (1959), by J. B. Pick , the cinematic version of The Last Valley was the final feature film photographed with the Todd-AO 70 mm widescreen process until it was revived to make the film Baraka in 1991. Michael Caine called it "the most disappointing picture I ever made. Disappointing not from

644-555: A thirty-minute adaptation of his novelette The Children's Story . He was meant to do a sequel to Shōgun but instead wrote a novel about the 1979 revolution in Iran, Whirlwind (1986). Clavell eventually returned to the Shōgun sequel, writing Gai-Jin (1993). This was his last completed novel. The New York Times said that "Clavell has a gift. It may be something that cannot be taught or earned. He breathes narrative ... He writes in

690-663: Is Clavell's author surrogate and a character of the novels King Rat and Noble House (1981); he is also mentioned once (as a friend of Andrew Gavallan's) in Whirlwind (1986). Featured most prominently in King Rat , Marlowe is an English prisoner of war in Changi Prison during World War II. In Noble House , set two decades later, he is a novelist researching a book about Hong Kong. Marlowe's ancestors are also mentioned in other Clavell novels. In Noble House Marlowe

736-490: Is mentioned as having written a novel about Changi which, although fictionalised, is based on real events (like those in King Rat ). When asked which character was based on him, Marlowe answers, "Perhaps I'm not there at all", although in a later scene, he admits he was "the hero, of course". The Asian Saga consists of six novels: In 1963 Clavell became a naturalised citizen of the United States. Politically, he

782-554: The Arctic. It was never produced. In 1960, the Writers Guild went on strike, meaning Clavell was unable to work. He decided to write a novel, King Rat , based on his time at Changi. It took him three months and several more months after that to rework it. The book was published in 1962 and sold well. It was turned into a film in 1965 . In 1961, Clavell announced he had formed his own company, Cee Productions, who would make

828-598: The British box office in 1971. However, it was an expensive failure overall. It earned rentals of $ 380,000 in North America and $ 900,000 in other countries; after deducting distribution costs it recorded an overall loss of $ 7,185,000. Caine later wrote in his memoirs, "I liked this film very much but it was not a success, due mainly I think to problems of timing. We were in the midst of the Vietnam War, and here

874-400: The Captain departs, the priest catches Erica praying to Satan to keep the Captain safe. The priest has her tortured and condemned to be burned at the stake. To spare her further suffering, Vogel kills her before her body is consigned to the flames. Enraged, Geddes pushes the priest into the fire and holds him there, killing them both. Meanwhile, the Captain and his men fight in a night assault on

920-402: The Captain to preserve the village so it can shelter the band through the coming winter, as the outside world faces famine, plague and the devastation of war. The Captain agrees, but kills Korski, one of his own men, without warning when the latter objects to the idea of desertion. The local headman, Gruber, submits, after obtaining the best terms he can. The local Catholic priest is livid that

966-484: The Thirty Years' War, it covered a period never previously depicted on film (apart from 1933's Queen Christina ). In this light, George MacDonald Fraser wrote in 1988, "The plot left me bewildered - in fact the whole bloody business is probably an excellent microcosm of the Thirty Years' War, with no clear picture of what is happening and half the cast ending up dead to no purpose. To that extent, it must be rated

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1012-451: The character who was to become Clavell's heroic archetype, Dirk Struan . Struan's descendants were characters in almost all of his following books. Tai-Pan was adapted as a movie in 1986. Clavell's third novel, Shōgun (1975), is set in 17th-century Japan, and it tells the story of a shipwrecked English navigator in Japan, based on that of William Adams . When the story was made into

1058-416: The film for three years. "I imagine that if I'd come along with the project six months later, it wouldn't have been made at all. By then the financial rot had set in." (A proposed film of his novel Tai Pan had been cancelled due to its cost.) Caine later claimed "I knew pretty well as soon as we finished filming that it wasn’t going to work at the box office." The film was one of the most popular movies at

1104-460: The film industry via distribution and worked at that in England for a number of years. He tried to get into producing but had no luck, so he started writing screenplays. In 1954 he moved to New York, then to Hollywood. While trying to break into screenwriting, he paid the bills working as a carpenter. In 1956, he sold a script about pilots to RKO , Far Alert . The same year Michael Pate bought

1150-509: The films King Rat , White Alice and No Hands on the Clock . In 1962, Clavell signed a multi picture contract with a Canadian company to produce and direct two films there, Circle of Greed and The Sweet and the Bitter . Only the second was made and it was not released until 1967. Clavell wrote scripts for the war films The Great Escape (1963) and 633 Squadron (1964). He wrote

1196-428: The finished picture, but the reaction to it. It is a performance of which I’m particularly proud, one of the best performances I ever gave, as a matter of fact. For a start, it was anti-religious war at the time of Northern Ireland. I did the film to show what I felt about all the religions. But it meant absolutely nothing to the public, the critics were extremely unkind, and it was a terrible thing for me because everybody

1242-483: The first peddler to enter the valley in the spring, the Captain learns of a major military campaign in the Upper Rhineland and decides to seek employment with Bernard of Saxe-Weimar . Vogel wants to accompany him, fearing Gruber will have him killed once the Captain leaves. However, the Captain orders Vogel to stay as the condition of not sacking the village, leaving Geddes and Pirelli behind as guards. After

1288-465: The inmates there were experts in all walks of life—the high and the low roads. I studied and absorbed everything I could from physics to counterfeiting, but most of all I learned the art of surviving, the most important course of all. Prisoners were fed a quarter of a pound (110 g) of rice per day, one egg per week and occasional vegetables. Clavell believed that if atomic bombs had not been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki he would not have survived

1334-437: The mercenaries include a number of Protestants (and nihilistic atheists for that matter), but there is nothing he can do to sway the Captain. The Captain kills several dissenting members of his band to uphold their pledge to set aside religious divisions. Elsewhere, the locals accept their fate. The Captain and Gruber agree to appoint Vogel as judge to settle disputes between villagers and soldiers. As long as food, shelter, and

1380-460: The oldest and grandest tradition that fiction knows". His first novel, King Rat (1962), was a semi-fictional account of his prison experiences at Changi. When the book was published it became an immediate best-seller, and three years later it was adapted as a movie . His next novel, Tai-Pan (1966), was a fictional account of Jardine Matheson 's successful career in Hong Kong, as told via

1426-594: The personal account of Paul Brickhill . He directed the popular 1967 film To Sir, with Love , for which he also wrote the script. Born in Sydney , Australia, Clavell was the son of Commander Richard Charles Clavell, a Royal Navy officer who was stationed in Australia with the Royal Australian Navy from 1920 to 1922. Richard Clavell was posted back to England when James was nine months old. Clavell

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1472-641: The supporting cast from British rep companies. Filming started 25 August 1969 in Austria. The film was mostly shot in Tyrol , Austria ( Trins and Gschnitz and the Gschnitztal Valley). Actor Martin Miller collapsed and died on the set before shooting of the first scene commenced. Caine played a German. He later said, "I thought that the obvious trap was to play a German like a man trying to do

1518-556: The war. Clavell did not talk about his wartime experiences with anyone, even his wife, for 15 years after the war. For a time he carried a can of sardines in his pocket at all times and fought an urge to forage for food in rubbish bins. He also experienced bad dreams and a nervous stomach kept him awake at night. After the war, Clavell was promoted to war-substantive lieutenant , with effect from 1 August 1942, and to temporary captain on 10 June 1946, A motorcycle crash , however, ended his military career. On 20 July 1948, he

1564-405: Was a huge best-seller, and Clavell sold the film rights for a sizeable amount (although the film would not be made until 1986). Clavell returned to filmmaking. He wrote, produced and directed To Sir, with Love (1967), featuring Sidney Poitier and based on E. R. Braithwaite 's semiautobiographical 1959 book . It was a huge critical and commercial success. Clavell was now in much demand as

1610-668: Was a story about the Hundred Year War in Germany, set in the Middle Ages." The Monthly Film Bulletin called it "unexpectedly terse, elegant and intelligent." Art Murphy of Variety said it was "disappointing" and faced "an uphill fight for domestic general audience attention". The Evening Standard called it "an excellent advertisement for the Tyrolean Tourist Board." With its setting in

1656-418: Was an Australian-born, British-raised and educated, naturalized-American writer, screenwriter, director, and World War II veteran and prisoner of war . Clavell is best known for his Asian Saga novels, a number of which have had television adaptations. Clavell also wrote such screenplays as those for The Fly (1958), based on the short story by George Langelaan , and The Great Escape (1963), based on

1702-624: Was announced Clavell would make the film for ABC Pictures. The head of ABC was Martin Baum who was Clavell's agent and who had helped put together To Sir, with Love . Clavell was going to make the film after The Great Siege , a story of the Siege of Malta , which he was going to do after Where's Jack? (1967). He ended up not making Great Siege . Before making The Last Valley he said he would write another book afterwards "to see if I've still got it." (This would become Shogun .) Omar Sharif

1748-406: Was another massive best-seller. Clavell was heavily involved in the 1980 miniseries which starred Richard Chamberlain and achieved huge ratings. In the late 1970s he spent three years researching and writing his fourth novel, Noble House (1981), set in Hong Kong in 1963. It was another best-seller and was turned into a miniseries in 1986. Clavell briefly returned to filmmaking and directed

1794-566: Was born in Tokyo to a Japanese mother and an American G.I. father. They had a daughter, Petra Barrett Brando-Corval, born in 1972. Barrett, the longtime personal assistant and later girlfriend of Marlon Brando , raised Petra in England; Brando legally adopted Petra in 1981. She lives in London with her husband Russel Anton Fischer, a film producer. In 1994, Clavell died in Switzerland from

1840-595: Was educated at The Portsmouth Grammar School . In 1940, Clavell joined the Royal Artillery , and received an emergency Regular Army commission as a second lieutenant on 10 May 1941. Though trained for desert warfare, after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 he was sent to Singapore to fight the Japanese . The ship taking his unit was sunk en route to Singapore, and the survivors were picked up by

1886-457: Was officially discharged from the army on account of disability, leaving with the honorary rank of captain. He enrolled with the University of Birmingham , where he met April Stride, an actress, whom he married in 1949 (date of marriage sometimes given as 1951). He would visit her on the film sets where she was working and began to be interested in becoming a film director. Clavell entered

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1932-484: Was published in 1960. The New York Times called it "oddly compelling". The Chicago Tribune called it "a strange and memorable book." In July 1967 it was announced that James Clavell , then enjoying success with the release of the film To Sir With Love and the book Tai-Pan , would adapt the book into a screenplay and direct a film adaptation for the Mirisch Corporation . In November 1968 it

1978-462: Was released on VHS by Magnetic Video Corporation in 1981, and on CED by CBS/Fox Video in 1983. Since then, it has been released on DVD through three different labels: by Anchor Bay Entertainment on November 16, 1999, by MGM Home Entertainment on May 25, 2004, and by Kino Lorber Studio Classics (on both DVD and Blu-ray) on June 23, 2020. James Clavell James Clavell (born Charles Edmund Dumaresq Clavell ; 10 October 1921 – 7 September 1994)

2024-851: Was said to have been an ardent individualist and proponent of laissez-faire capitalism , as many of his books' heroes exemplify. Clavell admired Ayn Rand , founder of the Objectivist school of philosophy, and in 1981 he sent her a copy of Noble House inscribed: "This is for Ayn Rand—one of the real, true talents on this earth for which many, many thanks. James C, New York, 2 September 81." Between 1970 and 1990, Clavell lived at Fredley Manor near Mickleham , located in Surrey in South East England . Clavell had three children. He and his wife had two daughters, Michaela and Holly. Clavell had an affair with Caroline Naylen Barrett, who

2070-505: Was sure it would be a big hit — and so was I." A mercenary named "The Captain" leads his company who fight for whoever will pay them, regardless of religion. His soldiers pillage the countryside, raping and looting when not fighting. During their campaigns, they encounter Vogel, a former teacher trying to survive the fighting and resulting chaos in south-central Germany. Vogel runs from the Captain's force, and eventually stumbles upon an idyllic mountain valley, untouched by war. Vogel convinces

2116-498: Was the first star to sign. By June 1969 Michael Caine had also signed on. At one stage the film was going to be called Somewhere in the Mountains There is a Last Valley . It had the biggest budget of any picture made to that point by ABC Pictures. Caine was paid $ 750,000, Sharif $ 600,000. At one stage the film was going to be called Somewhere in the Mountains There is a Last Valley or A Last Valley . Clavell cast much of

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