Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

JohnHowardReid A somewhat disappointing film from the hands of ace director John Farrow (especially when compared with Leslie Fenton's somewhat similar Ladd vehicle, Saigon, made the following year). Of course he was hamstrung by a somewhat indifferent script whose writer was breathing down his neck as producer (although the script has some interesting characters who are particularly well-acted, the plot is wholly predictable and thus almost completely lacking in suspense); and by the casting of Gail Russell in a pivotal role. She is 100% inadequate, and is not too flatteringly photographed either.All the same, Farrow does what he can: the introductory scenes of the film are put across in short snappy takes, but the scene in which Don Beddoe tells Ladd of Cunningham's death is handled very effectively in one long take with the camera almost stationary except for a short pan at the beginning and end of the scene. Other long takes follow - the scene in the morgue, the scene at police headquarters, but there is less reliance on this device than usual, as Miss Russell was unable to retain her lines without the use of an idiot board.The sets are impressive, but they do not come up to the exotic standard of those in Saigon.On the other hand, Miss Duprez does make a fabulous second lead.

tomsview It's the stars that make this film watchable: Alan Ladd and Gail Russell.The story is OK but these days with all the brilliant crime/mystery movies and series on TV and cable, "Calcutta" comes across as pretty lightweight.A couple of pilots, Neale Gordon and Pedro Blake played by Alan Ladd and William Bendix, who fly cargo over the mountains between Burma and India just after WW2, investigate the murder of fellow pilot Bill Cunningham.Neale Gordon is suspicious of the motives of women young and old, but falls for his dead friend's fiancé, Virginia Moore (Gail Russell), while keeping his former romantic interest, Marina Tanev (June Duprez), on hold. After a lot of punching and some surprising slapping around of Miss Moore, things get sorted out.The film was set in a fairly convincing backlot Calcutta, but it could have been set just about anywhere. The strongest influence on the film seems to be "The Maltese Falcon", especially the ending. In fact, Edith King as Jewellery dealer Mrs King is somewhat of a Sydney Greenstreet character.I must admit I am still an Alan Ladd fan dating from many a Saturday matinée back in the 1950s. He had a quiet confidence that projected strength, and although this film is a bit blah, he carries the picture. Apparently he was one of the genuine nice guys and loyal; more than a couple of people always got work on his films, but he was also a tragic figure - gone too early aged 50.But there is an even more tragic star in this film, Gail Russell, who died aged only 36. This was fairly early in her career and critics at the time thought she was miscast. However that sense of hesitancy and innocence was fine for the role even though her performance was pieced together from short takes; she was so nervous she could hardly get her lines out. In a recent biography by Steven Glenn Ochoa, "Fallen Star", he tells how she had a nervous habit of ringing her hands, which directors tried to stop, but it's obvious in one of her early scenes in the film. Ladd was very good with her on set but not everyone was like that in her career.It's these two charismatic stars and their unique screen presence that still makes "Calcutta" worth a look.

rljsmlch Gail Russell too soft, lovely and vulnerable to be the bad girl in this somewhat boring film. Too much dialogue and not enough action. June Duprez underused. Do not get the feeling of being in India. Really just another detective story. Almost no more than one flying sequence. Ladd plays it cool and indifferent with Chinese shop keepers. Ladd in all his sartorial splendor. Ladd a good looking guy when young. Light colored suits worn by Ladd and others give testimony to lack of air conditioning in those days. This is best reference to a very hot Calcutta climate. Man whose murder Ladd is trying to solve is only seen in one or two sequences at beginning of film. Very easy to forget what he looks like for such a good buddy of Ladd and Bendix.

bmacv Calcutta is far from Alan Ladd's finest hour on the silver screen (nor director John Farrow's, for that matter). His trademark contempt for women and his android-like affect prove unappealing and tedious when not undercut by plausible psychology or fleshed-out co-stars. Here he has nothing but a murky Asian hodgepodge of noir cliches to wade through, the inevitable William Bendix at his side (and, this time, on his side). Trying to solve the murder of a fellow trunk-line pilot working the route from India to China, he drifts from hotel to casino to airfield encountering a rogues' gallery of grotesques. Edith King, as a stogie-puffing Baby Jane Hudson, promises more than she delivers; Gail Russell, the black widow of the piece, is kind of like Mary Astor to three parts water. This is one film from the noir cycle whose obscurity gives little cause for regret.