Calcutta

Alan Ladd and William Bendix are airline pilots based in Calcutta, flying the hump into China. They're surprised when fellow pilot John Whitney tells them he's going to get married. At first it looks like it's going to be a modern-dress version of GUNGA DIN. However, when they return to Calcutta, they find out Whitney is dead, with fiancee Gail Russell saddened by the news, and in possession of an $8,000 gem she says he gave her. He also had $35,000 in the bank, which is preposterous. With an assortment of exotic characters in the fringes and the police investigating, Ladd begins to poke around on his own.

It's a Maltese-Falcon sort of story, shot cheaply and accurately by John Farrow to appeal to Ladd's profitable audience -- so long as the budget didn't get out of control. It's shot mostly on interior sets, with one long shot of Ladd driving through the Paramount backlot, made up to look like Hollywood's idea of India.

Ladd always looks a little odd in these movies. His suits fit him, but seem to swim on him, and he keeps his lines short, clipped and just this side of surly, expressionless and with his lips barely moving, as if he were a ventrilogquist. The rest of the cast is filled out with minor names, although the crowd scenes are well stocked with extras. Seton Miller's script is serviceable, and it's another movie well turned out for all hands.

This film, which actually was one of Ladd's most financially successful films of the 40's, is a fun ride. Surprisingly, it's reputation has been one of a potboiler. It moves swiftly and has many good twists and turns. Gail Russell is wonderful and breathtakingly beautiful as the mysterious femme fatale. Alan Ladd was very well matched with Gail Russell. More so than Veronica Lake with her stony blonde beauty. The beautiful darkness of Russell and the Blonde Ladd was much more interesting. They were close friends and it shows in their two feature films together. A lot of the TV prints of this films have scenes missing that are crucial to the plot so if you can get a hold of a complete version of Calcutta you will be very lucky. A fun film from the 40's that you should try and catch up with.

It's the stars that make this film watchable: Alan Ladd and Gail Russell.

The story is OK but these days with all the brilliant crime/mystery movies and series on TV and cable, "Calcutta" comes across as pretty lightweight.

A couple of pilots, Neale Gordon and Pedro Blake played by Alan Ladd and William Bendix, who fly cargo over the mountains between Burma and India just after WW2, investigate the murder of fellow pilot Bill Cunningham.

Neale Gordon is suspicious of the motives of women young and old, but falls for his dead friend's fiancé, Virginia Moore (Gail Russell), while keeping his former romantic interest, Marina Tanev (June Duprez), on hold. After a lot of punching and some surprising slapping around of Miss Moore, things get sorted out.

The film was set in a fairly convincing backlot Calcutta, but it could have been set just about anywhere. The strongest influence on the film seems to be "The Maltese Falcon", especially the ending. In fact, Edith King as Jewellery dealer Mrs King is somewhat of a Sydney Greenstreet character.

I must admit I am still an Alan Ladd fan dating from many a Saturday matinée back in the 1950s. He had a quiet confidence that projected strength, and although this film is a bit blah, he carries the picture. Apparently he was one of the genuine nice guys and loyal; more than a couple of people always got work on his films, but he was also a tragic figure - gone too early aged 50.

But there is an even more tragic star in this film, Gail Russell, who died aged only 36. This was fairly early in her career and critics at the time thought she was miscast. However that sense of hesitancy and innocence was fine for the role even though her performance was pieced together from short takes; she was so nervous she could hardly get her lines out. In a recent biography by Steven Glenn Ochoa, "Fallen Star", he tells how she had a nervous habit of ringing her hands, which directors tried to stop, but it's obvious in one of her early scenes in the film. Ladd was very good with her on set but not everyone was like that in her career.

It's these two charismatic stars and their unique screen presence that still makes "Calcutta" worth a look.

Neale Gordon (Alan Ladd), Pedro Blake (William Bendix), and Bill Cunningham are fellow pilots flying the mountain route between Chungking and Calcutta. Bill is newly engaged to Virginia Moore (Gail Russell) and gets murdered. His friends start digging.

This has a bit of exoticism. It has Alan Ladd. It has some noirish elements. Virginia should be played like the damsel in distress or even a femme fatale, but Gail Russell can only play her like a neighbor's wife. I also don't like her description of the relationship with Bill which cuts it down at the knees. For the exotic element, they are using too many Chinese people. It's supposed to be Calcutta after all. There is some good turns and Alan Ladd is playing up the noir. Mainly, I would like Gail to change her performance.

Gail Russell too soft, lovely and vulnerable to be the bad girl in this somewhat boring film. Too much dialogue and not enough action. June Duprez underused. Do not get the feeling of being in India. Really just another detective story. Almost no more than one flying sequence. Ladd plays it cool and indifferent with Chinese shop keepers. Ladd in all his sartorial splendor. Ladd a good looking guy when young. Light colored suits worn by Ladd and others give testimony to lack of air conditioning in those days. This is best reference to a very hot Calcutta climate. Man whose murder Ladd is trying to solve is only seen in one or two sequences at beginning of film. Very easy to forget what he looks like for such a good buddy of Ladd and Bendix.