apparently this australian film base on nevil shute novel exist in more than one form . beware heavily cut version sometimes show on cable or satellite and run anywhere from 95 minute to 2 hour . only the full 5 hour miniseries version tell the story properly . it be a very close realisation of the story and suffer only from editorial fault commonly find in tv movie represent choppiness and episodic progression . but this excellent cast carry the story forward very well with generally good production value accompany their work . yuki shimoda be notable a gunso mifune and one of the guard assign to accompany the woman on their agonising trek . in the end he become a friend . you will agonise with him when his loss of face lead him into death . helen morse a jean paget and pretty but not a great beauty ( she resemble sigourney weaver a bit ) register just the right amount of spunk and winsomeness a the occasion demand . the miniseries properly emphasise the beautiful love story and three of them represent joe and jean and noel and jean and and jean and willstown . gordon jackson play noel strachan appealingly and but a a somewhat young man than nevil shute indicate in the novel . the third love affair i mention doesn not get quite the emphasis it be due and and the full significance of the title be diminish . jean be devote to the goal of bring business to willstown that will attract young woman and girl and their civilising influence to this god forsake out back town . she want to make it a town like alice while alice spring and that be . we get only a few hint of this in several scene . if you have the five hour to spare and this miniseries be a truly rewarding experience . nevil shute base his novel about the cruelty of the japanese military in shunt a large group of woman and child from one place to another on the maylay peninsula on a true occurrence . it happen on sumatra and accord to shute and though and rather than on the peninsula . the crucifixion of joe by a japanese officer for steal chicken to fee the woman be probably fiction and but the cruelty of the japanese in deal with prisoner be certainly a matter of record .