Steineded
How sad is this?
Zandra
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
Philippa
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
mikea-48241
Funny in the last 20 min or so when Clive and his wife meet the General and an officer just back from India...to request Clive return for a 3rd time to fix things againNotice on the garden table his wife has left her laptop pc open during much of the scene. Hahaha....
MartinHafer
I love the period from the 1920s-1940s in film, however, there are a couple genres within this that I am less than fond of and try to avoid--such as musicals and costume dramas. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but in general these are among my least favorite old films. With musicals, often the story seems unimportant and the songs dominate and with costumers, too often the tales look great and have nice sets and clothes but seem emotionally sterile."Clive of India", clearly, is a very sterile and dry film. Despite starring the wonderful Ronald Colman (one of my favorites), the picture comes off as episodic and amazingly dull. This is a shame, as the real life Sir Clive was an amazing man and as an American I am glad he fought in India and not North America--otherwise, we might still be a British colony! He was talented and yet also very screwed up (his suicide comes to mind) and how all this managed to be so dull is beyond me. I think it's because so much energy is spent on the sets and making it all look good that little attention was given to the script--the characters just seemed wooden and lifeless.Overall, you can watch it if you like, but I suggest you'd get more out of Wikipedia on this one!
chuck-reilly
"Clive of India" does feature some rigorous battles with some raging elephants but only for a few frames and not nearly enough to satisfy any action fans. The director might even have culled some of the scenes from other films since the overall production values of this movie are not extravagant in any way. That said, Ronald Colman (as Clive) gives his usual excellent performance as the British officer who first brought India to its knees in the 18th Century. Loretta Young, looking as beautiful as a woman can be, co-stars as Clive's loving wife. Colin Clive, a distant relative of the real Clive of India, has a brief but important role as an arrogant aristocrat. Most film buffs will recognize the actor Clive as the gentleman who made such a great and lasting impression as Doctor Frankenstein in two of James Whale's early 1930's horror classics. The story here is perfunctory but Colman has a few good lines. After being brought before the House of Lords for disciplinary action, Clive is approached by one of his older peers who sneers at him, "If I were a younger man, I'd challenge you to a duel." Clive remains unperturbed and gives it back to the old fellow with interest."If you were a younger man, you wouldn't dare."
Michael_Elliott
Clive of India (1935) ** (out of 4) Disappointing bio of Robert Clive (Ronald Coleman), the British man who rose to power by leading the British government to take over India and destroy Suraj Ud Dowlah. Along the way Clive finds time to get a wife (Loretta Young) but this too leads to hard times. I'm really not sure what was up with this movie but it was described as an epic upon its original release but it seems like a good hour and a half was cut out of the film. There were many bloody battles during this time and for some reason the film decides to jump over these scenes in favor of just giving us title cards to read. These title cards are used throughout the film so we actually learn more by reading than actually watching the film. Coleman gives a very good performance in the lead but sadly the screenplay doesn't give him too much to do. Young is wasted in her role, which mainly requires her to stand around and look at her husband. Colin Clive, a real life relative to Robert Clive, has a small, thankless role as does Cesar Romero. There's a great sequence at the end as Clive leads him men into battle, which includes them fighting against men riding on elephants. I'm not sure how the effects were done but there's some truly great moments here including one scene where a man is being eaten by one of the elephants. This sequence is pretty violent for the times but I only wished the rest of the film was half as good.
