Il conquistatore dell'India

Clive of India (1935)

** (out of 4)

Disappointing bio of Robert Clive (Ronald Coleman), the British man who rose to power by leading the British government to take over India and destroy Suraj Ud Dowlah. Along the way Clive finds time to get a wife (Loretta Young) but this too leads to hard times. I'm really not sure what was up with this movie but it was described as an epic upon its original release but it seems like a good hour and a half was cut out of the film. There were many bloody battles during this time and for some reason the film decides to jump over these scenes in favor of just giving us title cards to read. These title cards are used throughout the film so we actually learn more by reading than actually watching the film. Coleman gives a very good performance in the lead but sadly the screenplay doesn't give him too much to do. Young is wasted in her role, which mainly requires her to stand around and look at her husband. Colin Clive, a real life relative to Robert Clive, has a small, thankless role as does Cesar Romero. There's a great sequence at the end as Clive leads him men into battle, which includes them fighting against men riding on elephants. I'm not sure how the effects were done but there's some truly great moments here including one scene where a man is being eaten by one of the elephants. This sequence is pretty violent for the times but I only wished the rest of the film was half as good.

Funny in the last 20 min or so when Clive and his wife meet the General and an officer just back from India...to request Clive return for a 3rd time to fix things again

Notice on the garden table his wife has left her laptop pc open during much of the scene. Hahaha....

Robert Clive was an 18th century Lawrence Of Arabia, a man completely convinced he had a destiny and was fanatical in pursuing it. He went to India as so many did from Great Britain to seek fame and fortune. You recall young Lieutenant Lawrence in Lawrence Of Arabia toiling away at some desultory job in Alexandria when he's given an assignment to seek out Prince Faisal. It was his destiny calling and Peter O'Toole ran with it.

Something very much like that happens to Robert Clive as played by Ronald Colman here. Convinced he has a destiny like Lawrence did, Clive leaves the British East India company clerk job and joins the army where like Ulysses S. Grant he has a talent for war.

War is what he makes and by the end of his career the French who also had imperial ambitions were chased out of India and it was British for almost 200 years. Clive wanted India to be a crown colony, but it was run by the British East India Company who not under any law and away from the monarchy's writ were quite a corrupt outfit. The Indians never got over it.

Colman brings out the fanaticism in Clive. Usually the self assured polished English gentlemen, Colman adds on that with Clive being the self assured man of destiny, but also terribly worried that destiny will pass him by. After the story of this film is concluded, Clive died by his own hand in 1774 pretty much forgotten by the British public who worshipped him at one time.

This film has not been available for years. I'm glad I finally got to see it.

Historical biopic from 20th Century and director Richard Boleslawski. Ronald Colman plays the title role, a somewhat self-destructive office clerk who impulsively joins the British army, travels to India, and engineers a spectacular military victory against an Indian uprising. That's just the start of his colorful career as a Defender of the Realm against a number of native rebels and tyrants. He also struggles to balance his time between his service and his wife (Loretta Young), who wishes that he would settle down.

Colman seems well cast as the seemingly impetuous Clive, who disregards the rules and societal proprieties in the service of his country and personal glory. But his part seems poorly written at times, more childish than daring, and his performance suffers for it. As does Young, who I normally like, especially in her 30's films, but who here seems phony and a bit overdone. Director Boleslawski seems to manage well with drawing room scenes of debate and heavy dialogue, but fails miserably at the war scenes, of which there are few, a glaring absence given the material.

Oftentimes, instead of dramatizing plot developments in a compelling way, the filmmakers opted for written title cards explaining the outcomes of decisions, which inevitably leads to anti-climactic disappointment. Still, the production values are good, and there are some well-done scenes.

'Clive of India' follows the career of Robert Clive (Ronald Colman) from East India Company clerc to military leader and Westminster politician; his wife Margaret (played by Loretta Young) has very little to do except being the patient, faithful and child bearing woman at his side. The sets and costumes are fine - in part even lavish - and the acting is mostly alright. What mars the picture are the poor script, the awkward dialogues and even more the uneven pacing. The structure is episodic: we get a glimpse of what Clive did here and what Margaret or someone else said there, but these scenes do not follow each other like in a coherent story. Rather, the film uses either title cards (a lot of them) to explain what went on in between, or forces Colman to make pompous statements that serve the same purpose. The result is a picture that fails to stir much interest in either its plot or in its characters. You sit through it and somehow it feels like a relief when you have reached the end.