imported>Chris the speller: /* Film Adaptation */replaced: Washington Post, Times Herald → Washington Post and Times-Herald

2022-08-04T15:45:08Z

Film Adaptation: replaced: Washington Post, Times Herald → Washington Post and Times-Herald

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{{short description|1958 book by Alistair MacLean}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox book
| name = South by Java Head
| title_orig =
| translator =
| image = image:South by java head.JPG
| caption = First edition (UK)
| author = [[Alistair MacLean]]
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| series =
| genre = [[World War II]] [[Novel]]
| publisher = [[William Collins, Sons|Collins]] (UK)<br /> [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] (US)
| release_date = 1958
| media_type = Print ([[Hardcover]] & [[Paperback]])
| pages = 254 pgs
| preceded_by = [[The Guns of Navarone (novel)|The Guns of Navarone]]
| followed_by = [[The Last Frontier (novel)|The Last Frontier]]
}}
'''''South by [[Java Head]]''''' is the third [[novel]] written by [[Scottish people|Scottish]] author [[Alistair MacLean]], and was first published in [[1958 in literature|1958]].<ref>Farnholme's Mission: SOUTH BY JAVA HEAD. By Alistair MacLean. 319 pp. New York: Doubleday & Co. $3.95.
Lardner, Rex. New York Times 5 Jan 1958: BR26.</ref>

MacLean's personal experiences in the [[Royal Navy]] during [[World War II]] provided part of the basis for the story.

==Plot introduction==
The story is set in February 1942, in the immediate aftermath of the [[Battle of Singapore]]. As the British stronghold of [[Singapore]] falls to the invading [[Imperial Japanese Army]], a mixed collection of soldiers, nurses, fleeing civilians, a small boy, and at least one spy attempt to escape the burning city aboard the ''Kerry Dancer'', a battered freighter crewed by a disreputable captain and sailors. The ''Kerry Dancer'' is crippled by Japanese aircraft, and the refugees are rescued by the ''Viroma'', a tanker also fleeing Singapore; however, the ''Viroma'' is also sunk by the Japanese, and the survivors take to open boats on the open sea. Led by stalwart First Officer John Nicholson, they attempt to flee to safety across the [[South China Sea]], facing death by thirst and exposure, typhoons, and pursuit by the relentless Japanese. As tensions mount in the small boat, Nicholson realizes that they are equally at risk from traitors in their midst.

==Reception==
The ''New York Times'' said it was "crammed with action and realistically sketched backgrounds but there is a patchness about the escapes from tight fixes that makes ''South by Java Head'' a less credible chronicle of derring-do than its remarkable predecessors."<ref>Farnholme's Mission: SOUTH BY JAVA HEAD. By Alistair MacLean. 319 pp. New York: Doubleday & Co. $3.95.
Lardner, Rex. New York Times 5 Jan 1958: BR26.</ref>

==Film Adaptation==
In 1957 producer Daniel Angel said that [[Daniel Fuchs]] was writing the script for ''South by Java Head'' from a novel by Tom Carling, with Fox to finance.<ref>Fox Signs 3 Writers Lazar Negotiates 3 Deals Of Local Origin By THOMAS M.PRYOR New York Times 26 Nov 1957: 41.</ref> MacLean's publisher Ian Chapman had not felt the novel was up to the standard of ''The Guns of Navarone'' and was going to suggest to MacLean that he try another novel instead. However the film sale of the project led to the novel's publication.<ref>{{cite book|first=Jack|last=Webster|title=Alistair MacLean: A Life|year=1991|publisher=Chapmans|pages=94–95}}</ref>

In January 1960 [[Buddy Adler]] announced he had bought the film rights for Fox as a vehicle for [[Alec Guinness]] and $4 million would be spent on it. [[Sydney Boehm]] would write the script.<ref>New Guinness Film to Cost $4 Million
The Washington Post and Times-Herald 20 Jan 1960: B10.</ref> No film resulted.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141128083345/http://randomo.com/AlistairMaclean.com/South-by-Java-Head.html Book review at AlistairMacLean.com]

{{Alistair MacLean}}

[[Category:1958 British novels]]
[[Category:Novels by Alistair MacLean]]
[[Category:Novels set during World War II]]
[[Category:Fiction set in 1942]]
[[Category:Novels set in Singapore]]
[[Category:William Collins, Sons books]]

{{1950s-war-novel-stub}}
{{1950s-hist-novel-stub}}

South by Java Head - Revision history

imported>Chris the speller: /* Film Adaptation */replaced: Washington Post, Times Herald → Washington Post and Times-Herald