''Blood Oath'', known in some countries as ''Prisoners of the Sun'', is a 1990 Australian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by Stephen Wallace and co-written by Denis Whitburn and Brian A. Williams. The film stars

Bryan Brown Bryan Neathway Brown AM (born 23 June 1947) is an Australian actor. He has performed in over eighty film and television projects since the late 1970s, both in his native Australia and abroad. Notable films include '' Breaker Morant'' (1980), ...

George Takei George Takei (; ja, ジョージ・タケイ; born Hosato Takei (武井穂郷), April 20, 1937) is an American actor, author and activist known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the fictional starship USS ''Enterprise'' in the televi ...

Terry O'Quinn Terrance Quinn (born July 15, 1952), known professionally as Terry O'Quinn, is an American actor. He played John Locke on the TV series ''Lost'', the title role in '' The Stepfather'' and '' Stepfather II'', and Peter Watts in ''Millennium'', ...

John Bach John Bach (born 5 June 1946) is a British-born New Zealand actor who has acted on stage, television and film over a period of more than four decades. Though born in the United Kingdom, he has spent most of his career living and working in New Z ...

, John Clarke,

Deborah Kara Unger Deborah Kara Unger (born 12 May 1966) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles in the films '' Highlander III: The Sorcerer'' (1994), ''Crash'' (1996), '' The Game'' (1997), '' Payback'' (1999), '' The Hurricane'' (1999), ''White Noise ...

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and

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. The film is based on the real-life trial of

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

soldiers for war crimes committed against Allied prisoners of war on the island of

Ambon Ambon may refer to: Places * Ambon Island, an island in Indonesia ** Ambon, Maluku, a city on Ambon Island, the capital of Maluku province ** Governorate of Ambon, a colony of the Dutch East India Company from 1605 to 1796 * Ambon, Morbihan, a c ...

, in the Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia), such as the Laha massacre of 1942. The film was the first film debut for both Russell Crowe and Jason Donovan, in minor roles. It was nominated for several AFI Awards in 1990, including "Best Film". It won the AFI Awards for "Best Achievement in Sound" and "Best Achievement in Costume Design".

Cast

as Captain Cooper *

as Vice-Admiral Baron Takahashi *

as Major Beckett *

as Major Roberts *Sokyu Fujita as Mr. Matsugae * John Clarke as Sheedy * Deborah Unger as Sister Littell *

as Private Jimmy Fenton * Russell Crowe as Lt. Corbett *

as Sgt. Keenan * Jason Donovan as Private Talbot *Toshi Shioya as Lt. Tanaka *

as President of the Bench *Kevin Paul Weeks as the Cook

Production

The film was the idea of Brian Williams, who was the son of Captain John Williams, who had prosecuted Japanese officers in charge of the POW camp at Ambon during the war. He was impressed with the TV series ''

The Last Bastion ''The Last Bastion'' is a television mini-series which aired in Australia in November 1984. It is a docudrama telling the story of Australia's involvement in World War II, and its often strained relations with its two main allies, Great Britai ...

'' and approached Denis Whitburn, who had written it with

David Williamson David Keith Williamson AO (born 24 February 1942) is an Australian dramatist and playwright. He has also written screenplays and teleplays. Early life David Williamson was born in Melbourne, Victoria, on 24 February 1942, and was brought ...

, and they wrote the script and produced together. Bryan Brown and Stephen Wallace then came on board the project (although at one point

Geoff Murphy Geoffrey Peter Murphy (12 October 1938 – 3 December 2018) was a New Zealand filmmaker, producer, director, and screenwriter best known for his work during the renaissance of New Zealand cinema that began in the second half of the 1970s. His s ...

was also considered as director). The movie was shot at the Village-Warner Film Studio on the Gold Coast.

Box office

''Blood Oath'' opened on 60 screens in Australia and grossed A$310,281 in its opening week finishing fourth place at the box office and went on to gross A$707,194 at the box office in Australia. Stephen Wallace has said he thought the film would have been better had the writers been more accurate as the truth was more interesting."Interview with Stephen Wallace", ''Signis'', 21 November 1998
accessed 21 November 2012 The writers announced plans to follow up ''Blood Oath'' with a $20 million film about the Cowra breakout, ''Giants at Dawn'', but this was not made.Kevin Sadlier, "JAPANESE BACK COWRA POW BREAKOUT FILM", ''Sun Herald'', 31 March 1991 p7

References

External links

* *
''Blood Oath'' at the National Film and Sound Archive''Blood Oath''
at Oz Movies {{Stephen Wallace 1990 films 1990 drama films Australian drama films 1990s Japanese-language films World War II war crimes trials films 1990s legal films Pacific War films Films set in Indonesia Films directed by Stephen Wallace World War II prisoner of war films 1990s English-language films Films about capital punishment

Cast

Production

Box office

See also

References

External links