Cinema: Susannah, Dhana & Ng

The 7th Dawn. It is Malaya, 1953. One sweltering tropic night, while native terrorists scourge the countryside trying to shake off British rule, the British governor's inevitable blonde daughter Susannah (Tom Jones) York appears on William Holden's verandah, ready to shake off a few rules of her own. "I couldn't sleep," she announces, and begins to wax poetic, describing herself as a bright, soft, still-folded sarong. "Stay folded," snaps Holden.

Collectors of Memorable Movie Cliches will find Dawn a treasure-trove. American rubber planter Holden bridles when Her Majesty's representative tells him that someone has to make the terrorists understand Britain's position. "Why me?" he asks. The reasons are many. First, because he wouldn't let the Commies take over Southeast Asia without a fight, would he? Second, because he is a wartime buddy of the Red Guerrilla Leader Ng, who helped him drive the Japanese out of Malaya in 1945. Third, because his mistress—and Ng's longtime secret love—is Dhana (Capucine), a Eurasian schoolteacher beloved of all the people, though her high chic-bones suggest that she may be a secret agent for Harper's Bazaar.

Soon both the women in Holden's life are seized as hostages, and his problem is to save one or the other, or possibly both, before The 7th Dawn. While the British prepare to hang Capucine as a saboteur, the suffixal Ng warns Susannah: "If Dhana is not released, you will be given to my soldiers. When they are through with you, you will be killed."

In a film short on surprises, the most surprising thing is that Holden's widely publicized off-screen romance with Capucine generates so little on-screen excitement. All too heedful of Hero Holden's tender regard for his costar, the camera pores over both handsome profiles in a gallant but rather wearisome game of His and Hers. Mostly hers.