GrimPrecise I'll tell you why so serious

MusicChat It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

tomsview It's the stars that make this film watchable: Alan Ladd and Gail Russell.The story is OK but these days with all the brilliant crime/mystery movies and series on TV and cable, "Calcutta" comes across as pretty lightweight.A couple of pilots, Neale Gordon and Pedro Blake played by Alan Ladd and William Bendix, who fly cargo over the mountains between Burma and India just after WW2, investigate the murder of fellow pilot Bill Cunningham.Neale Gordon is suspicious of the motives of women young and old, but falls for his dead friend's fiancé, Virginia Moore (Gail Russell), while keeping his former romantic interest, Marina Tanev (June Duprez), on hold. After a lot of punching and some surprising slapping around of Miss Moore, things get sorted out.The film was set in a fairly convincing backlot Calcutta, but it could have been set just about anywhere. The strongest influence on the film seems to be "The Maltese Falcon", especially the ending. In fact, Edith King as Jewellery dealer Mrs King is somewhat of a Sydney Greenstreet character.I must admit I am still an Alan Ladd fan dating from many a Saturday matinée back in the 1950s. He had a quiet confidence that projected strength, and although this film is a bit blah, he carries the picture. Apparently he was one of the genuine nice guys and loyal; more than a couple of people always got work on his films, but he was also a tragic figure - gone too early aged 50.But there is an even more tragic star in this film, Gail Russell, who died aged only 36. This was fairly early in her career and critics at the time thought she was miscast. However that sense of hesitancy and innocence was fine for the role even though her performance was pieced together from short takes; she was so nervous she could hardly get her lines out. In a recent biography by Steven Glenn Ochoa, "Fallen Star", he tells how she had a nervous habit of ringing her hands, which directors tried to stop, but it's obvious in one of her early scenes in the film. Ladd was very good with her on set but not everyone was like that in her career.It's these two charismatic stars and their unique screen presence that still makes "Calcutta" worth a look.

XhcnoirX Alan Ladd and William Bendix are cargo pilots in the far East. Shortly after their friend and fellow pilot John Whitney announces a surprise marriage, he's found murdered. Ladd decides to investigate the murder himself. Through nightclub singer June Duprez he tracks down the fiancée, Gail Russell, who seems very evasive. When he finds out her wedding present is a necklace Whitney could not possibly afford, he digs deeper, and slowly uncovers a smuggling ring, that might or might not involve Russell, who he is getting quite close to. The movie is a mixed bag, in almost every way. The story wants to be a mystery, relying too much on peripheral characters who seem important but aren't, such as Edith King as the owner of a jewelry store. Gail Russell's ('Moonrise') casting as a femme fatale seems like a potential goldmine, as she is one of the least likely actresses to play one. But she doesn't fully convince me, part of her appeal is her (real life) fragility and it doesn't mesh well with the more conniving aspects of her character. Duprez ('And Then There Were None') fits her role much much better, it's a shame it's such a minor role. Ladd ('This Gun For Hire') on the other hand is great, altho chances are this part was written with him in mind anyways. He could portray tough and tenacious as well as anybody else. And he has excellent chemistry with Bendix ('The Dark Corner'), who is always solid. There's a funny scene early on in the movie with Ladd and Bendix stranded after mechanical issues. Ladd is bare chested, covered in dirt and sweat (I imagine some ladies in the audience wanted this scene to go on forever), while Bendix is still wearing his shirt and is barely sweating. The movie's competently made, but director John Farrow ('The Big Clock') and DoP John F. Seitz ('Double Indemnity') have done way better and more remarkable movies. It makes the movie even more frustrating, so much talent in front of the camera as well as behind, and the end result (despite being a box office hit on release) is rather bland. Maybe if a better print surfaces I will enjoy it a bit more, but as it stands, it's only a 6/10

mcgill653 I have read the negative reviews, both concerning the overall impression of the movie and individual performances, and there may be some truth with them. But look at this view of my feeling of Gail's performance. This acting might be both an indication of John Farrow's ability and talent in knowing how to direct an actress with Gail's temperament so excellently, and Gail's own capability in understanding this directing.We first see Gail leaning over the stair railing, calling out to Alan Ladd if he is looking for her. Her posture here, her body language seems to me to show a personality of confidence and self-assurance. This demeanor of hers is bolstered, I feel, with a tone and articulation of voice adding to her firmness of mind. In every scene and conversation with Ladd, Gail's character, I feel, shows us a guiltless innocence in tone and manner, betraying no emotion but simply, slyly, and slowly winning Ladd over, conning him. And she almost succeeds as Ladd says, "...you really got under my skin..." and "If I live too long I may get too crazy about you." In the end our hero saves himself from the sly seductress, though. Gail's calm, self-confident, and subdued manner is apparent in every scene and always deliberate and intended to be that way. Her delicate, gentle looking face and tone is an excellent facade. For, we find out that she is the "fatal woman" of a big criminal organization. And who better to play this part than a sweet talking, innocent looking and sounding con artist and back stabbing woman who, "would have hated to kill you," as Gail's last words to Ladd are as she is lead away by the police.Other examples of Gail's duplicitous behavior can be seen throughout the movie, and, I feel all very effectively accomplished with the helping hand of John Farrow's excellent direction.

bkoganbing The team of Alan Ladd and William Bendix, as good friends off the screen as is shown on the screen in Calcutta, is the only real reason to watch this potboiler of an adventure story. The version I saw had several minutes cut out of it that were crucial to the plot.Ladd and Bendix play a pair of pilots ferrying cargo and passengers from Chungking to Calcutta and back over the 'Hump' which is what the pilots in wartime called the Himalayas. The native people there more picturesquely called the mountain range, 'the roof of the world'. It was a dangerous run and these guys decided to keep doing it and make some money after World War II. You can see the flag of Nationalist Kuomintang China on their flight jackets.Anyway a third buddy of there's John Whitney greets them in Calcutta after a dangerous run in which cargo had to be dumped and announces he's getting married. Ladd who has a loose relationship with June Duprez, and Bendix both don't think terribly much of the idea, but congratulate him anyway.The next day Whitney is strangled in the streets of Calcutta and Ladd and Bendix like in The Blue Dahlia the previous year are on the trail of the culprit. The first stop is Whitney's fiancé, pretty Gail Russell, who knows a lot more than she's telling. Let's just say that a whole lot of pilots are being made out to be saps.Tremendous events were going in both India and China at the time that Paramount was making Calcutta on their sound-stage yet from the story you would never know it. No hint at all is made about the Communist insurgency in China and in India you would think the British Raj was going to last another hundred years. Not one word about it in this potboiler of a plot which the Films of Alan Ladd says resembles Terry And The Pirates.Probably Calcutta would have been a lot better had we seen more of Bendix in the film. That's always good for any picture. However he gets to try and earn a living for the two of them while Ladd stays in Calcutta to solve the mystery. However it's Bendix who hears something from merchant Paul Singh that he tells Ladd about that starts the whole thing to unravel. Later on Bendix runs some interference with the British police that allows Ladd to stay free and solve the case.Calcutta is so typical of the potboiler films Ladd did and carried on the strength of his personality. It hasn't much else to recommend it.