NOTW 3/14/10: CALCUTTA by Rand

CALCUTTA

1947/USA


Released by Paramount Pictures
Directed by John Farrow
Produced and Written by Seton I Miller
Cinematography by John F Seitz
Lead actors: Alan Ladd, Gail Russell, William Bendix, June Duprez
Supporting actors: Edith King, Lowell Gilmore, John Whitney, Benson Fong

Alan Ladd stars as Neale Gordon, former CBI (China/Burma/India) “hump” pilot during WWII now flying freight over the hump aka the Himalayas, from Calcutta to Chungking, China along with wartime buddies Pedro (pronounced "Pee-dro" by Ladd) Blake (William Bendix) and Bill Cunningham (John Whitney).

Ladd was entering the peak years of his box office prowess in 1947, ranking 7th among male actors, ahead of such luminaries as Cary Grant, Van Johnson, Roy Rogers, Fred MacMurray, and Tyrone Power. I mention this because of the remarkable obscurity today of most of Ladd's pictures, especially from the late 40s.

And Calcutta may be the most obscure of them all. I worked pretty hard at obtaining it 11 or 12 years ago when I first got serious about collecting film noir and ended up with three different versions, all of which had parts missing, one of which was mostly unwatchable. Still, I cobbled together a mostly complete version.

One thing immediately noticeable about Calcutta is the music. The opening credits are backed by an appealing, somewhat oriental score by Victor Young that suits the exotic setting very effectively. The movie begins with Gordon and Blake flying their loaded C-47 cargo plane towards Calcutta. An engine failure over the hump forces them down in a mountain valley. Although hundreds of bomber and cargo plane crews died under similar circumstances during the late war, Gordon sets his crippled bird down without even blowing a tire, demonstrating the preternatural calm competence that Alan Ladd characters always have in spades. This incident also gives Farrow an opportunity to get Gordon's shirt off while he's working on the aircraft, another necessity for a Ladd picture at the time. Why it's so hot in a Himalayan valley is not explained.

Cunningham flies the necessary parts to his partners (also landing with no problem) and we're given a glimpse of the relationship of the three. After retiring to a fortuitously nearby bar, Cunningham drops a bomb on the boys, informing them of his upcoming nuptials. Another Ladd character trait—misogyny—pops up here, with Gordon informing his buddy that, “You've combed enough dames out of your hair to know what they want! STABILITY!!” Pedro pipes in, “You can't do this to us!"”

But Cunningham defends his betrothed, says she would never want to “bust us up,” and elicits a promise from the boys to attend a party to meet the lucky wench. Then he picks a fight with another patron who has tripped over his foot, even though avoiding such recreation was a condition for Gordon and Blake to agree to come to the bar. Cunningham has shown up with a bandage on his face from another recent disagreement and we get the idea of his hotheadedness. The ensuing brawl is one-sided, except for Cunningham who's promptly flattened. After hauling their buddy back to his plane, Gordon and Blake reaffirm their appearance at the party.

Tragedy intervenes, however, and they learn of Cunningham's strangulation death at the hands of the thugee death cult on their return to Calcutta. Gordon shows no emotion at the news (stoicism—another Ladd character trait), merely asking for time off to conduct his own investigation, natch.

Another character is now introduced, as the scene shifts to a casino: we meet chanteuse Marina Tanev (June Duprez), lovely in a clinging gown, singing a haunting tune—in French no less.

Gordon and Blake have entered and Marina joins them at their table. They quiz her on the circumstances of their friend’s death; Marina defends Cunningham's fiancee from Gordon's description of her as a “dame.” June Duprez may be the most intriguing character in the movie, an adult in a one-sided relationship with Gordon, who knows she isn't the most important thing to him. When Gordon leaves to interrogate the casino owner on the circumstances of the murder, Blake stays behind to try to convince Marina to leave Gordon! Some buddy. But Marina is OL with the way things are and she says so. A non-possessive woman in a noir? Hmmm.

Gordon finds Eric Lasser, the owner of the casino, and also meets a Mr. Malik, an Indian of indeterminate means, who makes rather indiscreet comments about the beauty of Miss Virginia Moore (Gail Russell), Cunningham's fiance. Ladd eventually finds Miss Moore and is immediately suspicious of her story of Cunningham's last evening with her.

Russell is the weakest link in Calcutta, sleepwalking throughout the film. Although cast because of a successful pairing with Ladd in Salty O'Rourke, Russell's effort in this film is stultifying, with her character's attempts at subterfuge being not only completely unconvincing, but laughable.

After snapping an expensive necklace, a gift from Cunningham, off the neck of Miss Moore, Gordon meets the final noteworthy performer in Calcutta, Edith King as Mrs. Smith, a somewhat shady businesswoman who sold the necklace to “that big, good-looking pilot. If I were twenty years younger, I could have gone for him.” Gordon now starts to put the pieces of the puzzle together when the stories of Moore and Lasser, who claims Cunningham won the money at the tables, don't quite fit. However, Mrs. Smith verifies Moore's story.

In returning to his room, Gordon finds Marina in his bathtub. When she emerges in a voluminous robe, Gordon says, “You should have worn Pedro's(!) robe. It wouldn't fit you so tight.” One must use one's imagination in several ways here. One, to picture June Duprez in a different robe than the one she's wearing and, two, to wonder why Pedro and Neale must share a room? When Gordon has only a perfunctory kiss for her, Marina tells him, “It's no fun being in love with you.” But when Virginia shows up (after things have warmed up considerably), Marina takes care to show her possession of Gordon, kissing him and straightening his jacket lapel. But she must go to rehearsal, leaving Gordon and Virginia to retire to a nearby drinking establishment to work on their suddenly burgeoning relationship.

Malik also re-enters the picture, with Blake discovering his involvement in “importing and exporting goods” (aka smuggling). Gordon searches his plane, discovering a hidden cache of jewelry, and is attacked by a thugee in the same manner as his late partner. Gordon, of course, is an Alan Ladd character, cool and confident, and manages to survive the attack, although his assailant escapes. Blake, who continues his habit of showing up a bit late for the fisticuffs, is still steamed to discover that Ladd has actually let the thugee escape!

Then, a key turning point occurs: Malik pays a visit to Gordon at his hotel and ends up dead in the hall moments after leaving.

Gordon finds that Virginia is missing and her room ransacked, which leads to another fine June Duprez moment, when Gordon asks the desk clerk if the bed had been slept in, to which Marina, no fool, says, “I'm glad you asked that!” She then asks Neale if he has fallen for Virginia—“You have all the symptoms”—and when the reply is affirmative, she replies: “Well, we'd better find her then." You've got to love a woman like that.

Things move to a climax pretty quickly from that point, with screenwriter Miller borrowing liberally from The Maltese Falcon to wrap things up. Marina sends Gordon off on another trip over the hump with the comment that he's safer in the air than with a woman.

Ladd is cast very much to type in the film and does a competent job, but the real pleasure in the cast is Duprez, who brings good looks and a very attractive and adult demeanor to her role. Edith King is also good, while William Bendix doesn't have much to do in this one. As I've mentioned, the real disappointment is Gail Russell, whose somnolent performance really drags the entire movie down, making what would otherwise be a scintillating exercise in noir exotica into a mostly routine, suspenseless thriller.