Bhowani Junction

source: Bhowani Junction

Anglo-Indian Victoria Jones (Ava Gardner) kisses British soldier Col. Rodney Savage (Stewart Granger) goodbye as India gains independence in 1947. He recounts the story years earlier as the political situation heats up. Patrick Taylor (Bill Travers) is an arrogant Anglo-Indian with an eye for Victoria. Surabhai is a troublesome resistance leader who is struggling to maintain non-violence while Davay is a mysterious resistance fighter using violence of all kinds. The country falls into chaos. Victoria kills a British officer in self-defense and her family covers it up. The character is mixed race and it's standard practice to cast a white actress. Ava Gardner is doing some overwrought acting. Sometimes it fits but in some instances, I would like her to dial it down. The character is dealing with some big melodrama and internally conflicted about her race. It's an interesting path to be caught in between and not fit into either worlds. The Indian freedom fighters don't come off looking well. Surabhai is shown as foolish and Davay is cold-hearted. The movie does lean slightly towards the British although there is the sleazy Captain McDaniel. I don't really buy Victoria getting away with the killing. There are some great set pieces. The train crash is epic. This is an interesting historical drama.

If you're not hooked in the first scene seeing Ava Gardner in the white blouse you'd better check your pulse. Unfortunately, the movie isn't as interesting as Ava is gorgeous. Sure, there are a lot of expensive-looking set pieces involving hundreds of extras and decent action (of sorts). It's as beautifully shot as any movie of the 50s. But the story. First we get a preachy talkfest about Indian independence. Then there is the lurid attempted rape scene, whreupon it becomes a cheap crime drama. The writing is so weak that at one point Ava is forced to tell an embarrassingly bad limerick to a friend in the bar. There is too much narration. And then the scene in the temple where she is imagining(?) all those voices in her head. Gave me a headache. The less said about the total lack of chemistry between Gardner and Granger, the better. This movie has the production values to be an epic. And the writing of a high school drama. Ava's luminescent performance is thus tragically wasted. She deserved much, much better. Nonetheless, watch it to understand why Frank Sinatra left his first wife for Ava and adored her for the rest of her life, decades after their divorce. She was a knockout.

Spectacular screen translation of John Masters' novel carried out by M-G-M set in post -colonial India. This is a drama aflame with Love And Revolt . Anglo-Indian Victoria Jones seeks her true identity amid the chaos of the British withdrawal from India . Meanwhile , Indu Victoria to be courted by three suitors , Col. Rodney Savage (Stewart Granger , this role gave hem a strenuous time along with Scaramouche , Beau Brummell and Moonfleet) , Ranjit Kasel (Francis Matthews) and Patrick Taylor (Bill Travers , though Sabu tested for, and was nearly cast in the role) . This dramatic picture contains a meaty plot , thrills , unrest , violence , love and historical events dealing with pre-independence India . This colorful picture gave Ava Gardner , Stewart Granger and co-stars a good time . Stewart Granger is fine as a colonel who falls in love for Ava . Gorgeous Ava Gardner as a half-English , half-Indian woman who is torn between the British officer she loves and her country . Gardner was trampled on by more than 200 native extras , then shaken and bruised in a staged fight with soldiers ; some years later , Ava declared it the toughest picture she ever worked on . Support cast is frankly well , such as Abraham Sofaer as Surabhai , Lionel Jeffries as Lt. Graham McDaniel , Freda Jackson as Sandani , Peter Illing as Ghanshyam and Francis Matthews who said in interviews that huge chunks of his part ended up on the cutting room floor ; in addition , Edward Chapman was hired to play Jones after the scenes had been shot with another actor playing the role . Furthermore , a right make-up to appear American actors like Indian people . Evocative as well as glowing cinematography by Freddie Young shot on location in Pakistan . The filming took place in Pakistan rather than India for political reasons due to the scenes of Hindu terrorism including against Ghandi himself. Emotive and intense musical score by the classic Miklos Rozsa . The motion picture was well directed by George Cukor , though contains some flaws . This excellent filmmaker directed 20 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances . Cukor enjoyed a successful working partnership with Katharine Hepburn, directing her in ten films over a period of 47 years such as ¨Little women¨, ¨The Philadelphia story¨, ¨Adam's rib¨ , ¨Pat and Mike¨, among others . He was often regarded as a "women's director" because his films frequently are centered around strong female characters . Cukor directed many adaptations of books & plays and was known to be particularly skilled at interpreting stage plays for the screen .

Copyright 1956. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 24 May 1956 (ran five weeks). U.S. release: 8 June 1956. U.K. release: 29 October 1956. Australian release: 24 October 1956. 9,841 feet; 109 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Rioters and passive resisters attempt to disrupt the Indian railroad in 1947. COMMENT: The real joy and interest in this movie lies not so much in the stars or even in the story, but in director Cukor's impressive handling of the crowd and action footage. It will be remembered that Selznick fired Cukor from Gone With The Wind because he felt that Cukor did not have the necessary "big feel" for the spectacle scenes. In Bhowani Junction it's obvious that Cukor set to work with the primary intention of proving that producer wrong. At times, the CinemaScope screen seems filled to bursting with action. As for the plot, however, even in 1956 audiences were getting mighty tired of heroes and heroines who were seeking their identities. Although the movie recovered its huge production and distribution costs, it earned little in the way of actual profit. Ava Gardner fans were none too happy either. She is cast out of her depth here. Although she comes across with power and conviction in some scenes, in general her performance is disappointing. Granger and Travers are none too hot either. It's left to the support cast to provide the really interesting and solid characterizations. Also on the plus side are Freddie Young's picturesque camera-work and Rozsa's vibrant music score.

Plot: An Anglo-Indian woman is forced to assess her identity as Britain withdraws from her Indian colony. The film-makers deserve a lot of blame for the deeply uneven nature of this film. Whilst the Technicolor drama is lurid, the crowd scenes are naturalistic, and some scenes (notably the rape-murder) are stylised. The result is a complete mess, not helped by Ava Gardener's grotesquely melodramatic acting. She always liked a dram, and it shows in her florid complexion. Thankfully, Stewart Granger adds a welcome calm and command when on screen. Also against this film are the white actors painted brown to look like Indians. I have no objections to the practice (English speaking Indian actors weren't easy to find in the 1950s) but in several cases the make-up is so bad that it is distracting. The Indian actors themselves are all very creditable, out- acting some of the 'noise and fury' European actors. What makes this film worth watching is the subject matter and the mature and complex way in which it is dealt with. Far too many films on racism are one-dimensional rants, but this, thanks to its source material in John Master's excellent and authoritative novel, is complex. Rather than simple black and white you have whites against Indians, Anglo-Indians against all, Communists against Congress, Hindu caste against caste, religion against religion. Everyone is implicated, but everyone is a human rather than a viewpoint. So the racist and snobbish Anglo-Indian lover who is obsessed with not letting the sun darken his complexion (still common in India where skin-lightening creams are much prized) also risks his life to save Indian peasants who are the darkest of the dark. Whilst the local Congress Party leader, a nice man who marshals locals in commendable passive resistance, still holds to the Hindu caste system which goes far beyond British colonial racism in terms of regarding others as inferiors and moderating social conduct accordingly. The end is a cross between the obvious (a happy ending for the lovers not present in the book) with a sombre grasp of reality, as everyone realises that there will always be differences between groups which can be bridged, but never abolished.

Ava Gardner plays the role of a mixed race Anglo-Indian woman coming to terms with the departing Brits. It's 1947, time to pack the bags and go home. But where is her home? During the occupation of India, many British expats 'went native' and developed relationships with Indians. The resulting issues were half-British - chi-chi, a step above the native wogs but hardly the right (read white) stuff. For broadly the opposite reasons, full-blood Indians despised 'em too. Stewart Grainger plays the British army officer charged with the task of maintaining order at an increasingly rebellious outpost called Bhowani Junction. The Indians are employing Ghandi's 'passive resistance' to foul things up and expedite their colonists' departure. A romance develops between they two. This is an inevitably simplistic Hollywood take on British colonial rule. But it's nicely filmed in black and white with some very authentic locations. When Indians lie on the railway tracks in an attempt to blockade the movement of trains, Grainger's army officer has a neat solution. He threatens them with the contents of the station latrines. They call his bluff so he lest 'em have it. At least it gets the trains running on time. It's depicted as outrageous behaviour in the movie, but compared to what these people did to each other after the Brits were gone it was hardly worse than pissing in your tea. How many people were murdered during partition - was it a million? This is a very decent drama, but the stand-out performance is unquestionably Ava Gardner's who - let's face it - never played a bummer in her life.

(There are Spoilers) Entangled love story between a Chi-Chi Eurasian half-breed Victoria Jones, Ava Gardner, and British officer Col. Rodney Savage, Stewart Granger,that leads to an attempted assassination of the country's, India, spiritual leader Mohandas Gandhi and future prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Taking place during the violence and unrest of circa 1947 India the movie "Bhowani Junction" works very hard to distinguishes between Gandhi's peaceful passive resistance movement and the communist and nationalist brutal and violence inspired movements that caused a bloody civil war between the Hindu's and Moslem's in 1947-48. The violence lead to the assassination of Gandhi, by a Hindu no less, and is still going on with partitioned former Indian provinces Pakistan and Kashmir today. Victoria feeling that she doesn't fit into the new and soon to be formed Indian nation is torn between her both fathers British and mothers Indian roots. Together with her fiancée Pat Taylor, Bill Travis, also a half bread Chi-Chi. They fear that they'll be left out when the native Indians take over the government and that leaves them both in a bind in either staying or leaving the country. Victoria at first slowly gravities toward her Indian nationality when she's attacked by British army officer Graham McDaniel, Lionel Jeffres, who had been eying her since she arrived at the Junction as a British/Indian transportation officer. Trying to fight the wild and lecherous McDaniel off Victoria bashed his head in with an steel rod killing him. Being taken in by Ranjit Kasel, Francis Matthews, who works with her at the transpiration office and his mother Sadani, Freda Jones, the two together with mutual friend Ghanshyam,Peter Illing, cover up McDaniel's death by hiding his body in a town garbage dump. It later turns out that there was also an Indian sentry murdered at the scene of McDanial's killing and even worse Ghanshyam turned out to be non-other then the communist rabble-rouser and terrorist Davay! Victoria is now in danger of being implicated in not only a terrorist act but in giving aid and comfort to a wanted terrorist leader Davay. Davay trapped in Bhowani Junction uses Victoria, by blackmailing her, to get him out by rail which alerts her former lover Taylor who together with her now lover Col. Savage, and a platoon of British/Indian soldiers, corral the the train. A desperate Davay take off on foot into a nearby train tunnel. Having Davay trapped in the ensuing shootout Taylor gets hit and later dies from his wounds but Davay is blown away by Col.Savage who also disarms the sticks of dynamite that he left on the tracks to explode. It's then when the train targeted for detonation by the now late Davay passes by that Col. Savage realizes that he, Taylor and the soldiers under his command, prevented the murder of India's future leaders,Gandhi and Nehru, who were passengers on that very train. Even though Ava Gardner as the Chi-Chi Victoria Jones was as beautiful as she ever was her relation with the men in her life in the movie,Pat Taylor Ranjit Kasel and Col. Savage, didn't really touch off any sparks or firework. Vctoria in the end falls in love with Col. Savage, and him with her. And at the same time Victoria not wanting to leave India with him is not that convincing at all. What really make the film worth seeing is the historic flavor that in has to it in how the world changed back in 1947, August 15th to be exact. A nation of then 345 million people broke away from the shrinking British Empire and was later to become one of the most industrious and populated country's on earth. By far overshadowing the colonial power, Great Britain, that ruled and exploited it, with a silk glove and iron fist, for some 250 years.

A film for those who like history and large-scale analog cinematography in the classic mode. While it departs in certain details from the original novel, and while it did not score well at the box office, Bhowani Junction stands in retrospect as a monument to filmmaking excellence in the epic age of Hollywood, with a fine script, great historical verisimilitude, gigantic production values, and excellent performances all around, most especially by a ravishing Ava Gardner as a half-Indian, half-English minor officer in the British colonial corps, and by Stewart Granger as her commanding officer. The star-crossed pair eventually find love amidst the coming departure of the British from India, encountering Gandhi's cadres of non-violent resistors, scheming and marauding Communists directed from Moscow, and the sexual and racial politics and ambiguities of the late colonial period. The titling styles of films in this era can feel dated, but who cares---all in all this is great stuff, and an entirely educational and pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.

The epic "Bhowani Junction" took two years in production (1954-55) including the location shooting in Lahore, Pakistan. It is a great melodrama that circumvents the tumultuous times and events unfolding Sub-continent's partition and the socio-political upheaval associated with it. The perplexed minds and characters of Anglo Indians filled with angst were the signs of those turbulent times as the British pack up for their home country in the aftermath of India's partition and Independence. Ava Gardner as Victoria Jones has outperformed in all facets of her central character in the movie, as she perfectly translates her persona and body language which is in complete sync with the abnormal circumstances taking new twists and turns of fate with every passing day. Stewart Granger as Col. Rodney Savage is equally superb in his majestically mature performance who takes hold of a crisis like situation on Bhowani Junction (shot on actual location of gigantic Lahore Railway station) with wisdom, sagacity and the grit to out maneuver the machinations of Hindu rebels or trouble makers. That were trying times and the British colonialists had to deal with unusual challenging situations. The screenplay and direction by George Cukor speaks for itself and I personally feel that this gem of a movie is underrated and unfortunately did not do a roaring business on the box office, but for all the glory that was Hollywood during that golden era of cinema, Bhowani Junction presents a complete feature film coupled with cinema-scope colour production, evocative musical score composed by Miklos Rozsa,thoughtful direction, superb cast and wonderful acting skills of those classic actors of a bygone age. (Ten out of ten). A must see for serious viewers.