Bhowani Junction

When I think of Hollywood legend and beauty Ava Gardner, I think of any number of things starting with her ridiculously good looks and her underrated ability as an actor.  One thing I don't think of?  Her looks being partial to her playing minority characters. But of the Gardner movies I've seen, I feel like a majority have her playing just about anything but a white, Southern girl (which is what she is).  Yeah, I get it. Acting requires and demands you do things that might not seem normal. But most of those movies where Gardner is playing a Hispanic, Mexican, or in the case of 1956's Bhowani Junction, a half-Indian woman, nothing is done to help her look the part.

In the case of this movie, it doesn't end up being a huge issue because Gardner handles her part so well.  A struggle I had with this 1956 epic is because of my own ignorance.  With a story set in 1947 India, I made a big realization about myself.  Well, sort of. Besides a basic knowledge about Gandhi, I know virtually nothing about Indian history.  Seeing a story about a turbulent time in Indian history was informative to say the least, even if I did struggle to keep up at times with characters and plot lines and political issues being thrown left and right. With so little background with the subject matter, regardless of how interested I was, I had trouble keeping up, and then two, staying interested as the story resorts more to genre conventions.

After four years away from home, Victoria Jones (Gardner) returns to her home and family in Bhowani Junction in 1947 India.  The country is going through rough times as Britain is going through the gradual process of withdrawing from India.  The population can't wait as some peaceful groups and some violent groups go about pushing the process along. A half Indian, half English young woman, Victoria finds herself trapped in the middle, trying to work through her problems as she works as a liaison for a British colonel, Rodney Savage (Stewart Granger). Attempting to discover who she is as an individual, she finds that even the people around her won't allow her to do so. Her life is even through into chaos as violent uprisings continue, and a horrific incident threatens to take her down for good.

When it comes to an actress or actor being miscast, it can typically go two ways, one much worse than the other.  The first one, just straight up wrong, the person just isn't right for the part, like John Wayne playing Genghis Khan in 1956's The Conqueror.  Other times, it's a physical miscasting, and that's what Gardner as Victoria is.  She's supposed to be playing a half Indian, half English young woman, but nothing is done to even remotely maker her look that way.  She looks like Ava Gardner, not a half breed as she calls herself.  The same goes for her accent.  Making an attempt (I think?) at an English accent, it comes across as more of a East coast accent than anything else.

Now saying those things, I will counter with this.  Besides the obviously odd physical choices, Gardner delivers one of her best performances.  Her filmography is checkered with characters like these, strong individuals who are tested to their limits and then some.  Instead of just being a sexy, smoldering seductress, Gardner shows off her dramatic acting chops.  Seeing a national struggle on such a large level, her Victoria is torn between her English and Indian heritage.  Which one is she? Neither side has ever really welcomed her as one of their own.  As she begins to realize, she is her own person who must make up her mind on her own because no one's going to do it for her.  I'm guilty of looking past her ability because of her looks, but she was an underrated actress, and this is a great chance for her to show that.

Wrapped up in this big historical epic with all its national upheaval is a surprisingly moving love story of Gardner's Victoria and, well, a lot of men.  Basically every man she meets falls madly in love with her, but it's not anywhere near the romantic comedy that it sounds like.  There's Bill Travers as Patrick Taylor, another half-Indian, half-English individual striving to find his place in the world, hopefully at her side. There's Francis Matthews as Ranjit, an Indian man who adores Victoria and would do anything for her. And last there's Granger as Col. Savage, the career soldier caught in an impossible situation. The relationship is never forced, especially early as they both seem ready to claw each other's eyes out.  It develops naturally, and the movie is the better for it.  I like Granger more and more with each movie of his.

Directed by George Cukor, this is a big, epic movie wrapped in the shell of a shorter, 2-hour story. At 110 minutes, Cukor packs a lot into his finished product. The scale is impressive, especially the extras numbering in the thousands. Pakistan fills in for India for the shooting locations, but the movie has an authentic, real feel to it.  But more than the epic quality of Cukor's movie is a story about individuals trying to find out who they really are, albeit in an extremely violent, tense time in Indian history.  Worthwhile for performances from Gardner and Granger, this is an underrated flick all around. It is available to watch at Youtube, starting HERE with Part 1 of 8.

Bhowani Junction <---trailer (1956): ***/****