THUNDER IN THE EAST
US, 1952, 97 minutes, Black and white.
Alan Ladd, Deborah Kerr, Charles Boyer, Corinne Calvet, Cecil Kellaway, John Abbott, John Williams.
Directed by Charles Vidor.
Thunder in the East is high melodrama. It is set in the years after Indian independence and partition. Alan Ladd portrays an adventurer who lands in an Indian province and finds himself in the midst of all kinds of difficulties – from the maharajah, rebels, the British settlers having to get used to the changed situation.
This is an Alan Ladd adventure film. The differences are that the leading lady, of all people, is Deborah Kerr as the blind niece of the local parson. Charles Boyer is the local Indian authority.
The film is more action adventure than character study – an Alan Ladd vehicle of the period. The film might be compared with such films as Bhowani Junction which treated the same period in Indian history. Direction is by Hungarian-born Charles Vidor who made impressions with such films as Gilda and The Loves of Carmen, and at this time Hans Christian Andersen and Rhapsody with Elizabeth Taylor. Other films include Love Me or Leave Me with Doris Day and James Cagney and the Grace Kelly, Alec Guinness, Louis Jourdan vehicle, The Swan.
1. An entertaining adventure film? The significance of the title, the original novel was 'The Rage of the Vulture'.
2. The atmosphere of this kind of Hollywood adventure: the artificial re-creation of India 1947, tough conventional hero, blind heroine, Indian politician, the assortment of bad people in the English colony and their interactions?
3. Black and white photography, Hollywood locations for India, sets and decor? Special effects especially the flight and battle sequences?
4. The reference of the plot to the events in India in 1947? The basic political background, the influence of Gandhi and Nehru? Ram Singh as a disciple of these men? His peaceful attitudes, his suffering experience, civil war and the use of violence? The need for the British colony to escape? The background of international arms sellers and dealers? Sufficient credibility for this kind of adventure?
5. The focus on Steve Gibbs as the American commercial pilot, selling arms, his attitude towards India. principles? The encounter with Joan Willoughby? The contrast with Lizette? His decision about the arms, about taking the English colony out? The demands of heroism? Conventional hero?
6. The contrast of the women? Joan Willoughby and her blindness? Lizette as the vamp style? The personality of Ram Singh? His status in the province, his principles, his reaction to Steve Gibbs and the impounding of the arms? The negotiations, the violence of the cutting off of his hand? His change of attitude? How convincing, a critique of non-violence and the advocating of violence? The other Indians?
7. The supporting characters and their contribution, for example Mr. Willoughby? The Maharajah?
8. Themes of popular politics popularly treated? The issues of nationalism, uprisings, violence and non-violence? American intervention? Political stands and attitudes of the early fifties? Their impact now?
