Thunder in the East

I liked "Thunder in the East," a 1952 release for this film, made in 1949.

This film looks to have been made on a smallish budget and takes place in the first years of India's freedom from Britain. A man named Steve Gibbs (Alan Ladd) flies in a plane filled with armaments in the Ghandahar province in order to sell them. However, the Prime Minister, Singh (Charles Boyer) wants to achieve a peaceful resolution with the leader of the guerrillas, Khan.

The British living in India are delusional, not realizing that the guerrillas are about to attack. The ones who do get out end up dead en route. Gibbs meets Joan Willoughby (Deborah Kerr) and her parson father (Cecil Kellaway) and manages to meet the maharajah, who defers to the Prime Minister and then leaves the country for the winter.

Gibbs offers his plane, but he gouges the people wanting to leave, which angers Joan, who was falling for him. Now she turns against him and no one will give into what they call blackmail. They gather at the palace, waiting for the guerrillas to attack, and hope that the Prime Minister will let them use the guns he has.

There are a couple of problems with this film. One is the casting of Charles Boyer and his French accent and heavy makeup. I have to say, he was wonderful. He was an underrated actor, but miscast.

The script has a few clichés, particularly the hard core businessman falling for a sweet, altruistic woman. Nevertheless, it certainly held my interest.

I read some complaints about the ending, which for me was the best part of the film. Very dramatic and very exciting. As far as the Prime Minister's beliefs, he was a human being and acted on an injustice viscerally. His idealism went out the window, and that's okay. That's what happens sometimes.

Alan Ladd did a good job in a Bogart-type role. I never considered him much of an actor, but that monotone type of line reading works fine in this type of part, as it did in his film noirs. Deborah Kerr was lovely as a good woman who prides herself on her independence and fearful of losing it.

The film was probably trying to make the point that Gandhi was an idiot, and that following his principles wasn't a good idea. Not sure I'd conclude that in all cases. Maybe in this one.

Based on a novel by Alan Moorhead set just after partition in the fictitious Indian state of Ghandahar. Despite the low ratings this film has received - and the fact that Paramount shelved it for nearly three years before they finally got round to releasing it - it's actually not too bad.

As usual Alan Ladd is obliged to play a two-fisted adventurer when he did introspection better, and the early appearance of Charles Boyer in blackface doesn't bode well. But it's nicely moody and downbeat and Deborah Kerr is as usual radiant. (Without giving too much away, the scene where she slaps a man's face and promptly walks straight into a door is probably the film's most memorable moment.)

This film would have been more believable had it been set in Arizona or a similar location, where the "Foreign Leigion" is the US Cavalry, with Anthony Quinn the sergeant , the naughty natives were the Apaches ... and somehow a contrived "Lost City" was stumbled upon somewhere west of Tuscon !!

But "clean" , dry-skinned French cavalry stumbling over a "lost" city in Algeria (with Indian dances and a Maharaja !) and scantily-clad , beautifully-groomed liberal ladies must have raised a few eyebrows even in 1953 !

Still , I hope someone (s) made a small living out of this wasted effort in time and money.

And one of Alan Ladd's best.

"Thunder in the East" boasts excellent direction by Charles Vidor, the camerawork of one of Hollywood's master cinematographers, Lee Garmes (who worked on most of the Von Sternberg-Dietrich masterpieces), and memorable performances by Ladd, Deborah Kerr, Charles Boyer, Cecil Kellaway, John Williams, and virtually everyone involved. The romance between Ladd and Kerr is poignant and unforgettable ("The awning is still blue."), and Kerr is a standout as a blind woman who's afraid to leave the city that she was born in, and knows so well that she can walk through as if she had sight.

The film's political message won't appeal to pacifists, and while there is only one real action scene at the end, the offscreen acts of violence leading up to it are extremely disturbing: a bus load of refugees, many of them children rides off with the children happily singing a song. We later hear that the bus was attacked and that everyone on board had been killed. An English couple attempts to evacuate by driving off in a horse and carriage, only to have their empty carriage return, and one of the main characters has his hand cut off by the bad guys (the attacking Muslim forces) in an attempt to persuade him into complying with their demands.

The open ending, described as "abrupt" in some of the other reviews is a decade ahead of its time. I like to think the odds are in favor of our heroes -- however the main point is that each of the men advancing toward the camera (the primary and secondary protagonists) has undergone a profound change in character as a result of the events they've become embroiled in.

Yes, the film feels a little like "Casablanca" at times (is this a bad thing?); and, no, it isn't quite as great as "Casablanca" (few films are); but while it's not as enjoyable, it's much darker, more realistic (in spite of being set in a fictional state), has a deeper, more profound message, and a much more adult approach. "Casablanca" works so well because the overriding air of cynicism is merely a pose -- with the two most jaded characters (Rick and Louis) finding a cause to believe in. "Thunder in the East" offers little in the way of hope -- only violence (with superior force) can save one from violence. And even then, the outcome remains unknown.

I've only given this film 9 stars because it never rises to the level of a cinematic masterpiece (like "The Third Man," "The Lady from Shanghai," "Orphee," "Meshes of the Afternoon," "The Seventh Seal," or "Shane") -- but for a "standard" Hollywood film, I rank this with the "Greats."

I guess the 1952 audience was certainly not satisfied with the ending,which abruptly comes as the heroes are still in action. Ending a movie like that was not obvious at the time.

The biggest flaw is French actor Charles Boyer,ridiculously made up as a Hindu.This character,a Gandhi disciple, puts forward wisdom,prayers,peace and love to cowardice and reactionary mind (the English) greed(Alan Ladd's character) , violence (his brothers ,the rebels),and complete irresponsibility (the caricature of a maharajah).He's the only positive character of the story along with the minister and his blind niece (Kerr).It's absolutely impossible to believe Boyer is an Indian ,mainly if you've seen him as a French lover!Besides,he finally demonstrates the opposite of what he stood up for . Ladd's evolution is predictable,from a greedy businessman to a hero (thanks to the blind girl of course).One should notice that Deborah Kerr is too great an actress to play such a poor part that would be suitable for a B movie starlet.Her intellectual playing does not match with down-to-earth Alan Ladd.The movie also suffers from a shoestring budget.

Take George Cukor's "Bhowani junction"(1956) instead.