(I have found "triple echo" referenced in cardiology, architecture, but most searches give returns to this movie or to the book it is based on. In square dance calling, a Triple Echo is to do concepts 1, 2, 3, then concepts 2 & 3, then concept 3. I do not recall an explanation by H.E. Bates even though I remember reading his essay on writing the book.)
"Triple Echo" UK 1972 was sold in the US as "Soldier in Skirts" 1973. US audiences expected a drag farce (maybe a "Some Like It Hot" in uniform) but instead were served a very dark tragedy. It did not go over well. Leonard Maltin gave "Triple Echo" 3 of 4 stars as drama; other reviewers gave "Soldier in Skirts" a dud bomb. I'll compromise at five stars.
The setting is the English countryside in 1943, the 5th year of WWII for the British. Farmwife Alice's husband is a POW of the Japanese and she is working their farm alone. The soldier Barton stops by the farm wandering about on leave from the Army.
Alice and Barton get romantically involved. He doesn't want to return to the Army. She doesn't want him to leave. They decide that he'll go AWOL.
She can't have a man living at the farm (too many questions) and the Army looks for runaway soldiers especially in wartime. So Alice disguises him as her sister Cathy from the big city. He grows into accepting the sister role living full time as Cathy.
Then the blustering sergeant from the local Army base shows up at the farm scouting for a date for the base Christmas dance (but expecting sex afterward). Cathy tries to persuade Alice it would be fun to get out of the coop and go to the dance. When Alice won't go, Cathy goes him/herself and tragedy descends. People expecting a farce or comedy were not prepared for the ending.*
Throughout the movie there are symbols like dark storms, birds free and confined, an ailing dog that has to be put down. People who like to study such things in films liked "Triple Echo"--people expecting a comedy hated "Soldier in Skirts".
What most people notice about the movie is that Barton starts off reluctantly being groomed and dressed by Alice as her sister, then grows accustomed to being presented as Cathy, finally becoming her enthusiastically. Barton's role reversal is obvious. I wonder what is going on in Alice's head. Reviewer Pauline Kael brought up an interesting point: groomed and dressed by Alice, Cathy is more feminine than Alice who is stern, drab and mannish for most of the movie.
Part of the book and movie is about traditional male roles and their impact on Alice's life. Alice is alone because her husband took up his manly duties and went off to war becoming a prisoner of war. The sergeant is a blustering male stereotype (the only comic element in the movie). Barton is AWOL--away without leave shirking his manly duties. Ultimately the story is about a lonely woman who has lost her husband to the intrusion of war into her life, then loses her lover to the intrusion of war into her life and then symbolically declares war on war itself.
______________
*SPOILER ALERT -- even though the movie ending is very different and more violent. In the book, at the dance the sergeant suspects "Cathy" is a man but says and does nothing; the next day Sarge comes to the farm to arrest the AWOL Barton and Alice shoots both of them. The movie ending is bloodier. It is tragedy, not comedy.
"Triple Echo" UK 1972 was sold in the US as "Soldier in Skirts" 1973. US audiences expected a drag farce (maybe a "Some Like It Hot" in uniform) but instead were served a very dark tragedy. It did not go over well. Leonard Maltin gave "Triple Echo" 3 of 4 stars as drama; other reviewers gave "Soldier in Skirts" a dud bomb. I'll compromise at five stars.
The setting is the English countryside in 1943, the 5th year of WWII for the British. Farmwife Alice's husband is a POW of the Japanese and she is working their farm alone. The soldier Barton stops by the farm wandering about on leave from the Army.
Alice and Barton get romantically involved. He doesn't want to return to the Army. She doesn't want him to leave. They decide that he'll go AWOL.
She can't have a man living at the farm (too many questions) and the Army looks for runaway soldiers especially in wartime. So Alice disguises him as her sister Cathy from the big city. He grows into accepting the sister role living full time as Cathy.
Then the blustering sergeant from the local Army base shows up at the farm scouting for a date for the base Christmas dance (but expecting sex afterward). Cathy tries to persuade Alice it would be fun to get out of the coop and go to the dance. When Alice won't go, Cathy goes him/herself and tragedy descends. People expecting a farce or comedy were not prepared for the ending.*
Throughout the movie there are symbols like dark storms, birds free and confined, an ailing dog that has to be put down. People who like to study such things in films liked "Triple Echo"--people expecting a comedy hated "Soldier in Skirts".
What most people notice about the movie is that Barton starts off reluctantly being groomed and dressed by Alice as her sister, then grows accustomed to being presented as Cathy, finally becoming her enthusiastically. Barton's role reversal is obvious. I wonder what is going on in Alice's head. Reviewer Pauline Kael brought up an interesting point: groomed and dressed by Alice, Cathy is more feminine than Alice who is stern, drab and mannish for most of the movie.
Part of the book and movie is about traditional male roles and their impact on Alice's life. Alice is alone because her husband took up his manly duties and went off to war becoming a prisoner of war. The sergeant is a blustering male stereotype (the only comic element in the movie). Barton is AWOL--away without leave shirking his manly duties. Ultimately the story is about a lonely woman who has lost her husband to the intrusion of war into her life, then loses her lover to the intrusion of war into her life and then symbolically declares war on war itself.
______________
*SPOILER ALERT -- even though the movie ending is very different and more violent. In the book, at the dance the sergeant suspects "Cathy" is a man but says and does nothing; the next day Sarge comes to the farm to arrest the AWOL Barton and Alice shoots both of them. The movie ending is bloodier. It is tragedy, not comedy.