1954 feels a bit late in the day for a British Empire epic, but I guess Kim had been a box office hit and Fox were keen to do something which was ideal to exploit CinemaScope, their new big screen process. They have Tyrone Power play a half caste (they slap on a bit of brown make up), which have it some novelty. Still, it's a bit whiffy.
Its set in 1857 just before the Indian mutiny and the last act concerns an uprising - it's not terribly exciting. The screenwriters (its credited to the team of Ben Roberts and Aussie Ivan Goff) raid some Indian history (there's stuff about the sepoy rumour that the cartridges were dodgy)... it's a shame they didn't do more. The best bit about this movie is the final act, which involves a raid on an Indian compound - this is suspenseful and well done.
But the first two thirds is a hard slog. It's stuff at the fort with Power romancing Terry Moore, daughter of commander Michael Rennie. Moore is about as convincing in British India as Power - but has more spunk and energy about her. And she seems in to him - whereas Power doesn't seem that in to her. (It strikes me that it's been a few times that I've written that - Power never seemed that interested in his female co stars, but he worked as a lust object for them eg The Razor's Edge).
There's also stuff about prejudice faced by Power which seems uncooked, in part because Power so so unconvincing.
I wish there had been two other big action set pieces instead - the opening patrol, for instance, they could have made more of that attack sequence. And I think they missed a trick not doing a siege sequence - there were some serious sieges during the mutiny, and all that Moore-Power romance would have played a lot better if they'd been, say, holed up at a fort, with people outside trying to kill them.
There are pleasing vistas - it's nicely shot. But there's too much dead time on screen.
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