Thunder in the East Reviews

In the turmoil of India after independence, a rebel army under the command of Bourneuf pillages the countryside, moving toward the city of Ghandahar. Pilot-adventurer Ladd, seeing an opportunity to make some fast money, flies a planeload of arms to the threatened city. He tries to sell the weapons to Boyer, the prime minister of Ghandahar and chief advisor to the Maharajah, but finds Boyer to be a pacifist who thinks he can negotiate with Bourneuf. Ladd casually mentions that Bourneuf might be a more willing buyer for the guns, and Boyer immediately orders them confiscated. Waiting to see what develops, Ladd meets several members of the old British colonial establishment who have stayed past their time, including Kerr, the blind daughter of missionary Kellaway. She and Ladd fall in love, but she is repulsed when he offers to fly the Britishers to safety for an exorbitant fee. Bourneuf and his army arrive and surround the city, destroying Ladd's plane. Boyer goes out to try to negotiate, but Bourneuf has his hand cut off and sends him back. When Bourneuf begins shelling the city, Ladd and the Britishers seek protection in the palace. There he and Kerr reconcile and are married by her father. The rebels storm the palace, but the still pacifistic Boyer won't allow the guns to be used. It is only when he sees a young boy (Cavell) who has been following Ladd around killed that he breaks out the machine guns, and, side by side, he and Ladd mow down the attacking hordes. Ladd is good as usual, playing the sort of cynical hero he perfected in the 1940s, but the rest of the cast is wasted due to a wordy script and slack direction. Unusually dark for its time, the film offers a very depressing view of the political situation in India. The film was completed in 1951, but, at the request of the State Department, it was held up for two years before being released in the US and was never released in India or Pakistan. Calvet, though feature-billed, has very little to do in her role as a French expatriate who tries to buy her way out of the beleaguered city using sexual favors. Boyer is fine in his part as the gentle pacifist. Interestingly, he had played a Japanese naval officer in THE BATTLE (1934), a French-made film which was re-released with the title THUNDER IN THE EAST.