The Assam Garden Reviews

A long-winded drama, THE ASSAM GARDEN features the considerable talents of Kerr and McCowen, but even they cannot overcome the essential listlessness of the story. Kerr had been the wife of a man stationed for years in India, who has just passed away when the movie commences, and she is returning to their home after the services. Her late spouse had worked on a tea plantation, and to keep the memory of her years with him, she has planted a garden at her country home that is reminiscent of the time they shared in the Assam area. Kerr dosen't like the garden, but her husband had a dream of having it noted by the people who publish the "Best English Gardens" list, so she is dutifully attending to make it exactly that. Kerr is a lonely, angry woman. The fact that she had no children haunts her, and she takes solace with her Indian neighbor, Jaffery, a woman whose husband is ill. The basic story has to do with the relationship between these two woman, the ups and downs in their friendship, and the ultimate exit by Jaffery as she takes her ailing husband back home, leaving Kerr behind to live a solo life, with few or no friends. Kerr's work is good and so is the acting of Jaffery, but the rest of the thesping is amateurish. Many of the scenes start nowhere and go downhill from there, and the camerawork is poor. Though the credits do not acknowledge any stage play, the film looks as if it were originally designed as a stage presentation and then adapted for the screen as an afterthought. Every few years or so, East Indian subjects have a rebirth in film, and with the success of GHANDI and the moderate acceptance of PASSAGE TO INDIA, the producers must have thought they'd have a market for this type of story.