Storm Over Bengal

Plot synopsis:
Two Royal Air Force officers, Flt Lt Hallett and F/O Neil Allison visit a British outpost in India. Neil is the younger brother of Army Intelligence Officer Captain Jeffrey Allison who is away on an undercover mission in the unaligned and independent Princely state of Lhanapur. The British are worried about radio broadcasts from Ramin Khan inciting the Indian people to revolt. Upon the death of the elderly Maharajah of Lhanapur, Ramin Khan schemes to usurp the throne as a base for his revolt.
Disguised as an Indian holy man, Jeffrey gathers intelligence on Ramin Khan's insurgents whilst the British send a diplomatic mission to Lhanapur who are ambushed and killed. The young Neil is himself in love with Jeffrey's fiancee Joan Lattimore and is jealous of his brother. Upon his return from Lhanapur Jeffrey postpones his wedding so Joan can flee to safety. With the death of the diplomatic party Jeffrey is flown to Lhanapur by Hallett in his aircraft to meet with the Maharajah. Ramin Khan captures Jeffrey and mortally wounds Hallett who flies back to inform the British of Ramin Khan's activity. Ramin Khan is delighted as he plans to ambush the British field force in a ravine near the caves of Kali.

Tags: intrigue

Review:
Days of the Raj.. I must admit that I am a fan of all those old movies that were set in India during the days of the British Raj, and this movie, while certainly made as a B programmer, has stayed with me for over 50 years!! I still recall Patric Knowles as the Soldier, with the then lovely Rochelle Hudson as the usual damsel in distress, while the evil Khan played by perennial heavy Douglass Dumbrille - it was a lot of fun, with a cast of well-known faces, with unknown names in supporting roles. One thing that really stuck in my memory was the musical score which I have now discovered was nominated for an Academy Award - very hard to believe for a B film. If you can find this in a DVD or Video store , rent it as you will really enjoy it.. solid action film deserves to be better known. Crazed Indian is broadcasting calls for armed insurrection in the name of Kali from somewhere in the wilderness. The British send their best man,Capt. Jeffrey Allison, into investigate. Meanwhile back at the base Allison's girlfriend and brother (who resents his brother's fame and loves his brothers girl) arrive for his wedding. Republic action movie moves like the wind covering a great deal of territory in its 60 or so minutes. At times this is like the best of the serials Republic turned out only with a larger cast and a less meandering script. It looks great and if I wasn't as well versed in the Republic style of action I would have sworn this came from one of the major movie studios. This is one of those neat little films that you stumble across and can't believe isn't better known. Worth a soda and a bucket of popcorn.. More middle eastern gunfire over the sands of time.. Stereotypes and cliched rule the reels in this fortunately short programmer where romantic intrigue and political strife cross each other as two distinguished members of the foreign legion (Patric Knowles and Richard Cromwell) both love the same girl (Rochelle Hudson) while working together to stop the villainess sheik (Douglas Dumbrille) from further disturbing the peace they are trying to maintain. It's entertaining enough but there's nothing new to be found in this action/adventure that somehow garnered an Oscar nomination for its music. The film is overripe with every type of cliche that dominated features and serials in the 1930's and 1940's, from the oh so noble white men, the frail heroine concerned over the man she loves being in danger, a guru like wise man who spouts philosophies on his death bed, and of course, the one dimensional villain. Dumbrille could play these types of roles sleep walking. There are a few thrilling moments that makes this tolerable, but it's difficult to remain completely interested in something that has been redone ok screen dozens of time.