Fri 3 Dec 2010
Movie Review: LAST TRAIN FROM BOMBAY (1952).
Posted by Steve under Action Adventure movies , Reviews[2] Comments
LAST TRAIN FROM BOMBAY. Columbia Pictures, 1952. Jon Hall, Christine Larsen, Lisa Ferraday, Douglas Kennedy, Michael Fox, Donna Martell, Matthew Boulton, James Fairfax. Director: Fred F. Sears.
With civil war about to break out in India, the first assignment of American diplomat Martin Viking there is a doozey.
Viking, as played by Jon Hall just before he became Ramar of the Jungle, is a naive fellow, you’re led to believe at first, who nonetheless turns out to be top notch when it comes to killers and thuggees of all sorts (but mostly inept), as he proves over and over again in hand-to-hand combat.
Blamed for the murder of his wartime friend who gets him into trouble from the very beginning all the way through to the end of this 72-minute adventure, Viking encounters an unfriendly Captain Tamil of the Bombay police (Michael Fox) and two women who prove to be both friendly and unfriendly (or vice versa):
Christine Larsen plays the daughter of a retired British officer as they take a trip by auto together to see the Taj Mahal in the moonlight, while Lisa Ferraday is a French woman once married to an American who now lays in wait for unsuspecting travelers in a tavern where Viking seeks refuge.
And believe it or not, I almost forgot to mention the train.
Viking is on it for no more than five minutes during the entire movie, but nonetheless it’s the entire crux of the plot, which consists of his being able to stop an unknown band of conspirators from blowing it up as it makes its way across the subcontinent of India, among the passengers being a very important Indian ruler and his entire entourage.
Filmed like an action-packed Columbia Pictures afternoon serial, there is little time to spend on subtleties. And like action-packed Columbia Pictures afternoon serials, there is a continual feeling of being cheated, what with death-defying escapes coming all too easily at the end of one chapter and the beginning of the next – especially the last one, wherein Viking and his fellow female captive at the time simply walk out of the dungeon where they’re being held captive.
No self-respecting villain would ever be this inept – ever!
December 6th, 2010 at 7:11 am
Jon Hall always seemed competent and engaging, and he was even pretty good in John Ford’s HURRICANE. Now and again his performances hinted that with slightly better luck (or judgment) he could have been Ray Milland. Didn’t happen, though.
December 6th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
Competent and engaging, perhaps, but without the “star power” or “charisma,” if you will, of a Ray Milland.
Or if you were to take LAST TRAIN FROM BOMBAY as an example, he also had poor judgment when it came to decide what suits to wear. Maybe to bulk him up visually, I don’t know, but the one he wears all the way through this movie seems to be at least two sizes too big for him. (See the black and white photo above.)