Hokey melodrama, but very enjoyable – I can see why this would have been such a success, because the structure is so strong, and the roles are actor-proof. Good on William Archer for writing it; he was a theatre critic who was dared into it, and came up with a big hit. Ronald Colman of all people plays the Raja – maybe because he played the leader of a group of plane passengers who wind up in a far flung corner of India in Lost Horizon, he wanted to have a go at playing the leader of a far flung corner of India who greet a group of plane passengers.
Archer establishes the threat and ticking clock early – three of the raja’s relatives are up for execution by the British, meaning the three passengers become prisoners. The subplots keep things ticking over until the climax – the woman (Anita Louise) is married to a drunk, but in love with a dashing pilot (Walter Abel); the raja proposes to the women (you can imagine female audiences enjoying a day dream over all these men panting for this girl and offering her absolute power); there’s a drunk Britisher living in the kingdom (EG Marshall); the raja isn’t keen to kill the prisoners but has to do it to keep his people happy; the people pray to a God. Good, dumb fun. Colman isn’t exactly well cast but it’s fun to listen to him try.
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