List of films set in Burma
Encyclopedia
Apart from the many Burmese movies which were filmed locally by Burmese directors and producers, several foreign movies have also been, at least partly, set in Burma. Only very few of them were actually shot on the scene, and most are set in Burma during World War II
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World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
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Foreign movies set in Burma
- A Maid of Mandalay (1913) - short movie based on Rudyard KiplingRudyard KiplingJoseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
’s famous ballad ‘Mandalay’, filmed on location and starring Maurice CostelloMaurice CostelloMaurice Costello was a prominent vaudeville actor of the late 1890s and early 1900s, who later played a principal role in early American films, as both a leading man, supporting player and a director....
and Clara Kimball-Young - The Road to MandalayThe Road to Mandalay (film)The Road to Mandalay is a 1926 silent drama film directed by Tod Browning.-Cast:* Lon Chaney - Singapore Joe* Lois Moran - Joe's Daughter* Owen Moore - The Admiral* Henry B. Walthall - Father James* Sojin - English Charlie Wing...
(1926) - Mandalay (film)Mandalay (film)Mandalay is a 1934 American drama film directed by Michael Curtiz. The screenplay by Austin Parker and Charles Kenyon was based on a story by Paul Hervey Fox. The film stars Kay Francis, Ricardo Cortez, Warner Oland, and Lyle Talbot...
(1934) - The Girl from Mandalay (1936)
- Burma Convoy (1941)
- Moon over Burma (1940) - starring Dorothy LamourDorothy LamourDorothy Lamour was an American film actress. She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope .-Early life:Lamour was born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Carmen Louise Dorothy...
- A Yank on the Burma Road (1942) - primarily set on the China end of the Burma RoadBurma RoadThe Burma Road is a road linking Burma with the southwest of China. Its terminals are Kunming, Yunnan, and Lashio, Burma. When it was built, Burma was a British colony.The road is long and runs through rough mountain country...
- Bombs over BurmaBombs over Burma-Plot:The film tells the story of Chinese guerrillas fighting for the Allied cause in Burma during World War II. During the construction of a military supply road like the Ledo Road, the project is sabotaged by an English nobleman who is a Nazi agent....
(1942) - Rookies in Burma (1943) - the only Hollywood Burma comedy
- Burma Victory (1945) - British film
- Objective Burma (1945) - starring Errol FlynnErrol FlynnErrol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
- The Purple PlainThe Purple PlainThe Purple Plain is a 1954 British war film, directed by Robert Parrish, with Gregory Peck playing a Canadian pilot serving in the Royal Air Force in Burma in the closing months of the World War II, who is battling with depression after having lost his wife...
(1954), based on a novel by H.E. Bates - was actually filmed in Ceylon, now Sri LankaSri LankaSri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the... - Escape to Burma (1955)
- Harp of Burma (1956) - Japanese movie directed by Kon IchikawaKon Ichikawawas a Japanese film director.-Early life and career:Ichikawa was born in Ise, Mie Prefecture. In the 1930s Ichikawa attended a technical school in Osaka. Upon graduation, in 1933, he found a job with a local rental film studio, J.O. Studio, in their animation department...
, nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category - Never So FewNever So FewNever So Few 1959 CinemaScope war film directed by John Sturges and starring Frank Sinatra, Gina Lollobrigida, Peter Lawford, Charles Bronson, Dean Jones and Steve McQueen with uncredited roles by renowned Asian actors Mako, George Takei and James Hong. The script was loosely based on an actual OSS...
(1959) with Frank SinatraFrank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Peter LawfordPeter LawfordPeter Sydney Ernest Aylen , better known as Peter Lawford, was an English-American actor.He was a member of the "Rat Pack", and brother-in-law to US President John F. Kennedy, perhaps more noted in later years for his off-screen activities as a celebrity than for his acting...
, Steve McQueenSteve McQueenTerrence Steven "Steve" McQueen was an American movie actor. He was nicknamed "The King of Cool." His "anti-hero" persona, which he developed at the height of the Vietnam counterculture, made him one of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination...
, Charles BronsonCharles BronsonCharles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...
and Gina LollobrigidaGina LollobrigidaGina Lollobrigida is an Italian actress, photojournalist and sculptress. She was one of the most popular European actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s. She was also an iconic sex symbol of the 1950s. Today, she remains an active supporter of Italian and Italian American causes, particularly the... - Yesterday's EnemyYesterday's EnemyYesterday's Enemy is a 1959 Hammer Films British war film directed by Val Guest and starring Stanley Baker, Guy Rolfe, Leo McKern and Gordon Jackson set in the Burma Campaign during World War II. It is based on a 1958 BBC teleplay by Peter R. Newman who turned it into a three act play in 1960. ...
(1959) – British movie set in Burma during World War II - Merrill’s MaraudersMerrill's Marauders (film)Merrill's Marauders is a 1962 Cinemascope war film directed and co-written by Samuel Fuller based on the exploits of the jungle warfare unit of the same name in the Burma Campaign. The source is the non-fiction book The Marauders, written by Charlton Ogburn Jr., a communications officer who served...
(1962) – again set on the Burma RoadBurma RoadThe Burma Road is a road linking Burma with the southwest of China. Its terminals are Kunming, Yunnan, and Lashio, Burma. When it was built, Burma was a British colony.The road is long and runs through rough mountain country...
during World War II, and actually filmed on the PhilippinesPhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam... - Rangoon Rowdy (1979) – Indian film starring G. Varalakshmi
- Beyond RangoonBeyond RangoonBeyond Rangoon is a 1995 drama film directed by John Boorman about Laura Bowman , an American tourist who vacations in Burma in 1988, the year in which the 8888 Uprising takes place...
(1995) – depicts events during the 8888 Uprising8888 UprisingThe 8888 Nationwide Popular Pro-Democracy Protests was a series of marches, demonstrations, protests, and riots in the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma...
in 1988. Starring Patricia ArquettePatricia ArquettePatricia T. Arquette is an American actress and director. She played the lead character in the supernatural drama series Medium for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.... - StealthStealth (film)Stealth is a 2005 American science fiction action film starring Jessica Biel, Josh Lucas, Jamie Foxx, and Sam Shepard. The film was directed by Rob Cohen, director of The Fast and the Furious and xXx....
(2005) - science-fiction action film starring Josh LucasJosh LucasJosh Lucas is an American actor. He has appeared in many films, including Glory Road, A Beautiful Mind, and Poseidon.-Early life:...
, Jessica BielJessica BielJessica Claire Biel is an American actress, model, and occasional singer. Biel is known for her television role as Mary Camden in the long-running family-drama series 7th Heaven...
, Jamie FoxxJamie FoxxEric Marlon Bishop , professionally known as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, singer-songwriter, stand-up comedian, and talk radio host. As an actor, his work in the film Ray earned him the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Actor as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a...
and Sam ShepardSam ShepardSam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child...
. One scene involves the aircraft bombing of a building in Rangoon - RamboRambo (film)Rambo is a 2008 German/American Action film starring Sylvester Stallone returning and reprising his famous role as legendary Cold War/Vietnam veteran John Rambo. Stallone also co-wrote and directed the film. It is the fourth and most recent installment in the Rambo franchise, twenty years since...
(2008) – starring Sylvester StalloneSylvester StalloneMichael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed... - Burma VJBurma VJBurma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country is a 2008 documentary film directed by Anders Østergaard. It follows the September 2007 uprisings against the military regime in Burma. Some of it was filmed on hand-held cameras, and the footage was smuggled out of the country...
(2009) - documentary by Anders Ostergaard