Calcutta was a big hit upon its release, and I can easily see why. It's Hollywood escapism at its finest. Every frame of the film is eye candy to the nth degree. Alan Ladd never looked more beautiful. Hell, no man ever looked more beautiful. Gail Russell and June Duprez are beautiful. The Hollywood version of Calcutta is beautiful, and its exotic doors and windows frame the actors beautifully as well. The film has a relatively short running time (83 minutes), an exciting, and necessarily fast-paced story, and a lot of twists and turns that will keep viewers until the end (and, after the end, as exactly what happened is never very clearly explained). But the story is almost irrelevant to the appeal of the film -- it's merely an excuse for all of the beautiful people, drinking, fighting, smuggling jewels, double-crossing one another, making love, while acting uber cool and looking breathtakingly beautiful the entire time. Josef von Sternberg, who was known for making films in studio versions of exotic locations with beautiful stars and gorgeous photography once said that the best stories don't come from novels or plays, but from newspaper articles. Film isn't really about plot. Film is a dream fantasy -- and Calcutta is pure dream. Okay, it's a male-oriented fantasy: Ladd has two gorgeous women in love with him (and despite the Production Code restrictions, he obviously sleeps with both), who he basically treats like crap... sexy, smoky-voiced nightclub singer, June Duprez is willing to accept his "playing the field"; and packed with guy style adventure (Ladd comes off as a cross between James Bond and Indiana Jones)... but who's complaining. Just sit back and enjoy the dream.
Review of Calcutta
