Adventure and thrilling movie set in India in the turbulent late 19th century . It is a rousing , moving , stirring tale , but rough-edged fare . A breathtaking and colorful adventure with great cast and full of action , thrills , battles and love . Rock Hudson that in The Magnificent Obssesion caused sensation here in his most exciting role . The story of a love that was greater than honor and race ; and a courage that stood alone against the fury of India's great rebellion , 1857 . Set in India as the title indicates , half-legend , half-land ...alive and wondrous thanks to spectacular outdoors through the magic of sterophonic sound , big screen , and anamorphic lens . The approaching on anniversary of one hundred years of British rule has brought growing unrest and occasional uprising among the natives . The famed Bengal Rifles Regiment ,Indian soldiers commanded by British officers , have pursued Siri Nath's rebels to the mountain fortress of Malakai Pass . The great desert , thundering path of empire, the fanatic rebel horsemen and the hordes of Siri Nath . And the crowning spectacle of the man who carved a saga of battle and love across the towering peaks of the an immense country : India . There a stubborn captain is faced with restoring his reputation . From marble palace to teeming jungle all India rocked with the violence of the great rebellion ! Adventure movie set in India with plenty of fights , emotion , thrills and overwhelming battles . Dealing with interesting issues such as imperialism , colonialism and racism . One of Hudson' s best adventure movies , but still within his tradition of making adventure movies which spanned around the world . And it packs a colorful photography in Technicolor , with color de Luxe . Rock Hudson as Captain Clayboune plays with some sensitivity the court-martialled officer for disobeying a superior's order , even though this action led to the capture a rebel-held stronghold ; as he is isolated by his colleagues and by the girlfriend's father . Hudson work is well up to his ordinary high standards , playing the tough commander after being harshly disciplined, then he takes his life to get redemption . Rock Hudson gives an acceptable acting as an obstinate officer who is sadly degradated , but whose wartime bravery earns him ,definitively , a string of honours . This is Hudson's third adventure in the East , the others were : Spiral road , Battle Hymm , and Thunder of God . Rock was Douglas Sirk's fetish actor including essential titles as Taza , Magnificent obsession , Written in the wind , among others . While his love interest is played by the gorgeous Arlene Dahl , as well as Úrsula Thiess who married Robert Taylor . Úrsula began her professional career as a model, landing small movie roles and eventually relocating to California, where her Hollywood career bloomed .Her film credits include Monsoon, The Iron Glove and this Bengal Brigade, co-starred Rock Hudson. She also appeared with Glenn Ford in The Americano and with Robert Mitchum in Bandido . There are strong , but brief performances from Torin Thatcher , Dan O'Herlihy , Michael Ansara , Leonard Strong , and special mention for the villain Arnold Moss who often performs baddie roles , among others .Lavishly produced by Ted Richmond and Universal International , being accompanied by brilliant and glimmer cinematography carried out by director of photography by Maury Gertsman .Shooting in Lone Pine , Backlot, Universal Studios , Iverson Ranch , Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California . Thrilling as well as sensitive musical score by Hans J. Salter and uncredited : Herman Stein and Stanley Wilson . The motion picture was well directed by Laslo Benedek , but it is an unusual subject for Benedek to direct . He made important and decent films , such as : Port of New York , Death of a Salesman , The kissing bandit , Daring game , Assault on Agathon , The Night Visitor and various TV episodes . Benedek drew out convincing, evocative performances from Kevin McCarthy, Cameron Mitchell, Fredric March , Mildred Dunnock and , of course , Marlon Brando and Rock Hudson . Rating : 6, Acceptable and passable film . The flick will appeal to Rock Hudson fans .

While this is certainly a very entertaining movie, it doesn't at all obviously historically accurate. Obviously told from the British perspective, it is the story of the uprising of Indian rebels against the British rule of their motherland and the British officer (Rock Hudson!) who professes love for both England and India. He is put on trial after false testimony concerning an order he was accused of not obeying and he is basically court-martialed. The Indian Raja wants to utilize his military skills to train Indian soldiers to fight against the British army which would automatically make him a traitor or cause his instant death the minute he refused the Raja. This leads to battle scenes where the British, who had basically tried to take over most of the world by this point in real history, are presented as heroes, and the Raja and his followers as the villain.Centuries of British rule obviously caused anger in the Indian natives, and here, there are also rumors that the British purposely put cow fat on the bullets that they sell to the Hindus and pig fat on the bullets they sell to the Muslims. The Hindus and Muslims believe that this will make them return to the earth as slugs, but as they reveal, this is only a method of the Raja to turn the natives against the British. This makes the rebels rather one dimensional and put sympathy on the English. Of course, with Hudson present, there's also a romantic triangle, with him in love with the General's daughter (Arlene Dahl) at the beginning but breaking up with her out of bitterness as to his fate, and later hanging around a beautiful Indian girl (Ursula Theiss).The action sequences are well done, and there is also a very tense hunting scene with Hudson and a tiger seeing eye to eye as they stalk each other. It is beautifully photographed and features gorgeous costumes and scenery, but there is never any doubt in my mind that Hudson is not at all believable as being British. So with all the films that Hollywood has made which distort history for dramatic effect or for other motives, its best to take them with a grain of salt, roll your eyes as little as possible, then do your own research to figure out what really happened in the history that they are trying to present.

The fifties was undeniably the golden age of Hollywood. Not only are the fifties unsurpassed in cinematic splendor, it is also a decade that would unsurpassed in three dimensional characters for four decades.This is cinematic splendor and old fashioned British pride. What's important to note is that the "British pride" is not the Hollywood establishment that liars make it out to be.Take this film, for instance. It is a lavish portrayal of British officers decked out without a taint, in colonial India, "helping" the poor people against oppressive native leaders.And this isn't as far from the truth as the hypocrites of the next four decades would have you believe. The white man has always been the "bad guy" in Hollywood movies. The exceptions, even before 1960, still amount to less than 5%.Except for the horrendous "Arrowhead", almost every Western ever made depicts the native Americans as mostly people who try to get along, who have dignity, and the truly evil people are unscrupulous white men.Here, we have as even a number as one can find. The women are all honorable. About one third of the British are bad apples, about one third of the Indians. One third of the British are heroic, and so are one third of the Indians.All this said, it is humorous to see the British splendor, and you almost expect Monty Python to show Rock Hudson needing to use a latrine. The uppity up British are just so impeccable.They do have character, though. More on the level of two dimension than one or three. This has a big budget look, and is very escapist, no matter what nationality you are.

The most surprising thing about this movie is that it was directed by Laslo Benedek ,a man associated with the more serious end of the movie market -as per Death of a Salesman and the Brando vehicle The Wild One .It is set in the year 1856 in British India ,more specifically on the North West Frontier .Rock Hudson is improbably cast as a British army Captain who is tried ,convicted and forced to resign his commission for disobeying the orders of a senior officer even though by doing so he was responsible for the capture of a key rebel stronghold .He becomes a big game hunter but continues to be devoted to the British cause and infiltrates a group of rebels plotting to overthrow the Raj .In between all these distractions he manages to make time to woo Vivian Morrow(Arlene Dahl)the daughter of the regimental commander Colonel Morrow (Tobin Thatcher) Hudson is miscast but battles valiantly with the role ,Dahl is merely decorative as is Ursula Thiess . The best performances -mostly because they are better cast-are given by Thatcher and Dan O'Herlihy as British soldiersThis is a good co-feature movie and will be enjoyed by lovers of the old style "ripping yarn