A Town Like Alice (1956 film) put Jack Lee and Joe Janni under contract for two years as a team. They went on to make "Robbery Under Arms" with Finch. A Town Like Alice (1956 film) A Town Like Alice is a 1956 British drama film produced by Joseph Janni and starring Virginia McKenna and Peter Finch that is based on the eponymous 1950 novel by Nevil Shute. The film does not follow the whole novel, concluding at the end of Part Two and truncating or omitting much detail. It was partially filmed in Malaya and Australia. In post-Second World War London, a young woman, Jean
A Town Like Alice (1956 film) only one to speak Malay fluently, and so takes a leading role in the group. But the Japanese refuse to take any responsibility for the group, marching them from one village to another. Many of them, unused to physical labour, die. Jean is only able to survive because she understands local ways and is prepared to 'go native'. The group meets a young Australian soldier, Sergeant Joe Harman, also a prisoner, who is driving a truck for the Japanese. He and Jean strike up a friendship and he tells her about the town of Alice Springs, where he grew up.