O Filho do Oriente

A handsome young merchant prince must fight first for his life and then for his identity. But when he struggles to keep the love of a beautiful young American, he is reminded that he is still but a SON OF INDIA.

This is a decent little film, with good production values and MGM lavished a lot of care in making it look exotic. As regards the plot, Ramon Novarro is practically the whole story. Here he adds another portrait to his long series of ethnic interpretations.

Silent screen star Conrad Nagel appears as Novarro's American friend & a lovely Madge Evans plays his sister, Novarro's love interest. Marjorie Rambeau is given little do to as their unsympathetic aunt, while old Sir C. Aubrey Smith has a tiny role as a wise old English doctor.

This incredibly well-produced MGM weeper is rich in studio-bound atmospherics, with entire Indian villages and epic jewelry stores recreated on a Hollywood backlot; the geniuses who assembled lush gardens and exotic princely surroundings provided their American audiences with a taste of mad romance unencumbered by logic or common sense, as rather fey Ramon Novarro, the leading hot star of the period, creates another ethnic type antithetical to his native Mexican roots, and does so with quiet dedication. Regardless of societal strictures, he and precious Madge Evans ignore convention, throw caution to the winds, and fall deeply into a heavy-breathing relationship, a possibility that the Hollywood Code would have completely forbidden only a few years later, as even the mention of mixed race marriage was generally taboo. And Novarro's rather precious, if effective style, would give way, too, to the whip-cracking undeniable masculinity of Clark Gable, who would brook no nonsense from anybody, and whose early films with Jean Harlow still crackle with lively sexual energy. Character stalwarts C. Aubrey Smith, Conrad Nagel and Marjorie Rambeau provide opposing viewpoints to the hapless lovers in this offbeat but oddly enchanting relic of a disappearing era.

Ramon Novarro, MGM's sound era answer to succeed Rudolph Valentino as Hollywood's great lover is cringingly and unintentionally hilarious in this tale of forbidden interracial love. Looking a touch more feminine than Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce and flatly delivering his lines with perfectly manicured arched eyebrows and clear Mexican accent Novarro's career disintegrates before your eyes.

Karim (Novarro) is the diamond obsessed son of a merchant making his way through some lawless terrain of India where he is befriended by a holy man that saves him from a bandit massacre in which he is the only survivor. Reduced to poverty the rag attired Karim attempts to sell the most precious diamond of his fathers collection but is in turn accused of stealing it from an unscrupulous Indian jewelry dealer. A visiting American (Conrad Nagel) saves Karim from prison and gets his diamond back. Karim then enters into a passionate affair with his sister Janice though he is unaware they are related. Janice's aunt is aghast at this blatant act of miscegenation involving the family name and takes steps to prevent it.

Son of India may have had a decent chance in dealing with a social taboo in the same exotically sensual way Frank Capra does in The Bitter Tea of General Yen with a different and more natural lead. Novarro's wooden style is further inhibited by the fact his character has a spoiled surly immature side to him that would make Sabu look like an intellectual. Madge Evans as Janice is feisty and natural as an innocent abroad and holds up her end of the bargain in spite of Ramon. Marjorie Rambeau as a microcosm of "proper" American society gets her racist message across with wide eyed disapproval and inflective disdain.

Cedric Gibbons and staff provide the usual lush and exotic sets while Harold Rosson's camera records some beautifully lit compositions and portraits of minor characters but with Novarro at the center of this weepie no amount of flawless make-up can make up for such a flawed performance.

Once you get past the first 15 minutes, it's smooth sailing from there. It starts out rather rocky (you might be be tempted to give up), but hang in there. You will be rewarded with an excellent story of love between the "races" and the often mindless sanctity of honor.

Madge Evans is fine. She's quite believable. In the first 15 minutes, I winced while watching Ramon Navarro in the title roll; however, as the minutes wore on, I grew to like his performance and ultimately thought he was quite good.

For 1931, the camera movement is fairly free. During a shot where the camera is following Evans and Navarro walking down a long hallway in Navarro's palace, a chair can be seen lifted out of the advancing camera's way by a grip. This minor error precedes the "rocking hat" mistake witnessed in "Citizen Kane" by 10 years. People often comment how inventive Welles was (he most definitely was), but they mistakenly cite his habit of moving objects in front of and away from mobile cameras as one of his clever tricks. If it's one of "his" tricks, he learned it from Hollywood.

TCM's print and sound quality were generally excellent.

This film is a fine example of one aspect of pre-Code films that is often overlooked, miscegenation. It's well handled by a major Hollywood studio. The strict enforcement of the Hayes Codes prevented this subject matter just three years later.

Son of India is a pre-code film starring one of the great faces of the silent screen. Ramon Novarro plays an Indian jewel trader named Karim, a man whose life has been filled with struggles. His father was killed leaving Karim to fend for himself. Unfortunately, the people in India are quick to take advantage of him.

In a stroke of luck, Karim is defended by a white man (Conrad Nagel) which makes it possible for him to be a successful merchant. He becomes quite wealthy and many years later meets a beautiful white woman named Janice (Madge Evans). The two fall in love very quickly and Janice allows Karim to take care of her. Their relationship is very sweet, but it is obvious that society will frown upon their union.

There isn't much that is very shocking about this film and the relationship between the main characters isn't very strong. The movie does, however, hold the viewer's interest throughout. It's brevity carries the story along nicely but could be to blame for the underdeveloped love story.