Bhowani Junction (1956)

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

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 only thing I have against the film is that Colonel Savage failed to realize that you had English people at all levels being racists against the Indians and the the Indians were racists among their own social, religious, economic groups. Without that racial divide and conquer policy, the British would have not been able to conquer and hold India for a long time.In addition, the colonel failed to realize that many British enlisted and NCO soldiers stay in India after their term of service had expired because if they had went home, the only jobs for them would have been menial and physical labor jobs. In the movie The Man Who Would be King, Daniel Dravot and Peachey Camehan did not want to go back to England because ambitious men like them would never be allowed to rise above their social class/caste status particularly after seeing action in the 2nd Afganistan War plus being degraded to the above mention jobs that were awaiting for them. In the movie Gunga Din, Sgt. Ballatine was leaving the service because he was going to going to get married; however, he was going to enter the tea business because there was no way his girlfriend was going let him worked in a menial job. In the tea business, you had a better chance of acquiring a respectable living and social status.Furthermore, the colonel also failed to realize the extreme prejudices that British officers in the regular English Army had against Britih officers in the Colonial Indian Army. During the Boer War of 1899, the War Office refuse to let any British Indian Officer serve in that war. Finally, the colonel would have face prejudice after being send back to England not only because he was an ex-British Indian Officer, but he would face additional racism if he had married that Anglo-Indian woman.

'Bhowani Junction' was one of the few movies where Ava Gardner was allowed to be more than just a beautiful, but inanimate statue. As Victoria Jones, she emotes in ways that one rarely sees her do. Like her character Julie in 'Showboat' Victoria is bi-racial, which is the main theme of the movie. The Pakistani backdrop is gorgeously photographed and it's certainly a testament to location shooting as opposed to studio backdrops. Unsurprisingly, it was well directed by Cukor, especially the interior, dramatic scenes that he is so famous for. The final sequence is a break from that, however, with darkly lit chases and murder. An entertaining diversion; certainly one that fans of Gardner would want to catch.

This is a beautifully shot, and well acted movie. It is almost faithful to the book and a good portrait of the chaos at the end of the second world war. Ava Gardner is luminous as always, and Stewart Granger a good foil for her.