Director: John Farrow
Year:  1947
Rating: 6.0

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Though Alan Ladd's pairings with Veronica Lake (This Gun for Hire, The Glass Key and The Blue Dahlia) are legendary among noir fans, it should not be forgotten that his pairings with William Bendix were pretty terrific as well - The Glass Key (in which he brutalizes Ladd), The Blue Dahlia, China, Two Years Before the Mast and this fairly obscure noir, Calcutta. Bendix in all these films just carries a certain uneasy ready to spring violence with him like a Billy club. Who would have thought some day he would be the affable aggravated father in the Life with Riley TV show for which he is still most remembered today.


Calcutta. 1947. The British are still in charge and the astonishing destruction and death that came with the Partition of India in that year. Calcutta was torn apart, but none of that is in this film where Calcutta is portrayed as a sleepy little city of nightclubs, calm streets, polite natives and elegant hotels. And murder of course. No rickshaws surprisingly which is how I used to go to school living there some ten years later. Probably more than the budget could afford. They don't even bother with any stock footage here - just a few sets that could pass as Indian or Chinese or anywhere in Asia.


Ladd and Bendix are pilots flying the Calcutta (Kolkata since 2001) to Chungking (now Chongqing) route. One of their pilot friend's is murdered in Calcutta and the two of them look for the killer. A bagful of jewels seems to be the motive. There are mild echoes of The Maltese Falcon here. There are two potential femme fatales - the friend's fiancee (sweetie pie Gail Russell) and a nightclub singer (June Duprez) with an itch for Ladd. Ladd is not one to emote (some would say act) - really in any film that comes to mind - which may be why I like him - here he is cynical and close to misogynistic though he does start to fall for his friend's fiancee which felt a little creepy - burying your friend first should be the rule.


Directed by John Farrow - husband to Maureen O'Sullian and father to Mia Farrow. He has done better work but this is quite ok - it just feels a little cheap. Kudos to the actress (Edith King) who played the sinister Mrs.Smith in her film debut at 51 years old. She was great but appeared in only a few more films before she turned to TV with a number of appearances.