End of the River was close to the end of the road for Indian film star Sabu. Sabu Dastigar was a youngster discovered by British producer Alexander Korda, who turned the lad into box office gold via starring roles in such films as Drums, Thief of Bagdad, and Jungle Book. After a brief stint in Hollywood, an aging (well, 20-something) Sabu returned to Britain and found work in this Powell-Pressburger production. He portrays Manoel, a South American native taken into slavery by whites and then charged with the murder of a man during a dockside donnybrook. It's actually a very interesting film, beautifully lensed by Christopher Challis, but Sabu just wasn't up to serious drama, and by the 1950s he was relegated to low-budget European co-productions. Though shot on location in Brazil, End of the River's cast is resolutely British - look for James Hayter and Charles Hawtrey as two of the not-terribly-convincing locals!
Review of The End of the River
