This piece of Alan Ladd third word exotica is often poo-pooed by film fans, partly because it was the film he made immediately prior to Shane and tends to suffer in comparison, but I really enjoyed it. Very suspenseful set up: Ladd fles into an isolated corner of India in 1947, with the British having pulled out and native tribespeople ready to overthrow the local maharajah. Ladd wants to sell his guns but the maharajah's second in command (Charles Boyer, not a bad substitute for an Indian) is a believer in passive resistance.
Ladd is in good form here, full of bounce and liveliness (perhaps excited by the thought Shane was coming up); although he's "hard bitten" we know down deep he's a softy because he has a double barrelled 'pat the dog': he romances a blind girl (Deborah Kerr, making a potentially nothing or mawkish part into something special) and is nice to an orphan boy.
The tension builds up pleasingly: cut off from communications to the outside world, people who try to get out are killed. Although the film is basically about the fate of Westerners during this time, there is some criticism of the British (especially in a scene where they are whining about Indians going into their club), and Boyer's pacifism is not treated as a joke. Indeed, the ending is kind of horrible - Boyer grabbing a machine gun and firing away. It's not really inspirational. There is a sweet moment where Ladd and Kerr get married. The main debit is all the Indians are played by non Indians which starts to get irritating after a while.
NB The film has two Aussie links: it was based on a novel by the Australian correspondent Alan Moorehead, and features Cecil Kellaway in the cast (as Kerr's dad).
No comments:
Post a Comment