2017 WRAP UP PART 4

You don't for one second buy the premise that the lovely Ava Gardner is a part British, part Indian woman but that's the role she's cast in in BHOWANI JUNCTION (1956). Directed by George Cukor, this is an old-fashioned exotic melodrama set in India in the days immediately after World War II. India has won its' independence from Great Britain and the British military is beginning its' gradual withdrawal from the country. This leaves a power vacuum that will be filled by either the pacifistic followers of Gandhi or the more violent Communist forces. Victoria Jones (Gardner) has three loves during the course of the film. The first, Patrick Taylor (Bill Travers), is another part British, part Indian outcast, a man who doesn't belong to either country. That relationship ends when Victoria sees him a bigoted racist. Her second paramour is Ranjit Kasel (Francis Matthews), a Sikh who desperately loves Victoria and wants her to convert to his religion. She admires and respects him but can never quite come to fully love him. Finally, she falls for Colonel Savage (Stewart Granger), who not only wins her heart but rescues her from the clutches of a Communist terrorist. MGM wanted to film BHOWANI JUNCTION on location in India but the Indian government demanded complete script approval and a percentage of the box office, neither of which the studio would agree to. Instead the film was shot on location in Pakistan and sound stages in Great Britain. BHOWANI is a colorful, widescreen historical epic with a compelling story and two very appealing leads. Thumbs up. 

Following immediately upon the surprise success of BLACULA (1972), SCREAM BLACULA SCREAM (1973) finds the titular vampire (once again played by the magisterial William Marshall), revived by a Los Angeles voodoo cult. There's plenty of the usual hugger mugger in this second and final entry in the BLACULA series. Bonus points for featuring beautiful blaxploitation icon Pam Grier, while straight arrow Don Mitchell is the hero and Michael Conrad is a police detective investigating the craziness. There's more vintage music, cars and clothes and while everyone gives it their best, SCREAM isn't as fun as the first film. The lovely Barbara Rhodes (who would have made a great Pat Savage in a DOC SAVAGE film), is wasted early in the film as a vampire's victim. She's given nothing to do except scream her head off. Worth seeing if you're a fan of the first film or '70s blaxploitation cinema in general but not for everyone.