King Rat

King Rat (1965), directed by Bryan Forbes and based on James Clavell's semi-autobiographical novel, is a sharp WWII drama you can watch online on iFILM. Among the thousands of Allied POWs in Singapore's Changi prison after the 1942 surrender, one man has built himself a comfortable life: Corporal King, played by George Segal, who barters, schemes, and talks his way to the top of an improvised prison economy.

His bond with an upper-class British officer (James Fox) is the moral centre — and neither man is particularly clean. Forbes shot it in black and white with a restrained hand, surrounding Segal with Tom Courtenay, John Mills, and Denholm Elliott. Clavell survived Changi himself, and that lived weight is what separates this from the usual POW picture. Stream King Rat online on iFILM.