Son of India (1931)

7/10

Maleejandra24 August 2006

Son of India is a pre-code film starring one of the great faces of the silent screen. Ramon Novarro plays an Indian jewel trader named Karim, a man whose life has been filled with struggles. His father was killed leaving Karim to fend for himself. Unfortunately, the people in India are quick to take advantage of him.

In a stroke of luck, Karim is defended by a white man (Conrad Nagel) which makes it possible for him to be a successful merchant. He becomes quite wealthy and many years later meets a beautiful white woman named Janice (Madge Evans). The two fall in love very quickly and Janice allows Karim to take care of her. Their relationship is very sweet, but it is obvious that society will frown upon their union.

There isn't much that is very shocking about this film and the relationship between the main characters isn't very strong. The movie does, however, hold the viewer's interest throughout. It's brevity carries the story along nicely but could be to blame for the underdeveloped love story.

11 out of 11 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

7/10

Give this film a chance

mbrindell20 May 2013

Once you get past the first 15 minutes, it's smooth sailing from there. It starts out rather rocky (you might be be tempted to give up), but hang in there. You will be rewarded with an excellent story of love between the "races" and the often mindless sanctity of honor.

Madge Evans is fine. She's quite believable. In the first 15 minutes, I winced while watching Ramon Navarro in the title roll; however, as the minutes wore on, I grew to like his performance and ultimately thought he was quite good.

For 1931, the camera movement is fairly free. During a shot where the camera is following Evans and Navarro walking down a long hallway in Navarro's palace, a chair can be seen lifted out of the advancing camera's way by a grip. This minor error precedes the "rocking hat" mistake witnessed in "Citizen Kane" by 10 years. People often comment how inventive Welles was (he most definitely was), but they mistakenly cite his habit of moving objects in front of and away from mobile cameras as one of his clever tricks. If it's one of "his" tricks, he learned it from Hollywood.

TCM's print and sound quality were generally excellent.

This film is a fine example of one aspect of pre-Code films that is often overlooked, miscegenation. It's well handled by a major Hollywood studio. The strict enforcement of the Hayes Codes prevented this subject matter just three years later.

8 out of 8 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

7/10

Adventures In India With Ramon Novarro

Ron Oliver10 February 2000

A handsome young merchant prince must fight first for his life and then for his identity. But when he struggles to keep the love of a beautiful young American, he is reminded that he is still but a SON OF INDIA.

This is a decent little film, with good production values and MGM lavished a lot of care in making it look exotic. As regards the plot, Ramon Novarro is practically the whole story. Here he adds another portrait to his long series of ethnic interpretations.

Silent screen star Conrad Nagel appears as Novarro's American friend & a lovely Madge Evans plays his sister, Novarro's love interest. Marjorie Rambeau is given little do to as their unsympathetic aunt, while old Sir C. Aubrey Smith has a tiny role as a wise old English doctor.

16 out of 20 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

6/10

MGM puts Ramon Novarro in India

wes-connors22 July 2010

In India, boyish Ramon Novarro (as Karim) is blessed by holy man Nigel de Brulier (as Rao Rama) while traveling the countryside with father Mitchell Lewis (as Hamid), a jewel merchant. When bandits attack their mountain village, Mr. Lewis gives his son a huge, very valuable diamond. Then, Mr. de Brulier buries him alive. This saves Mr. Novarro's life, as most of the villagers are slaughtered. Rising from his "grave", Novarro learns his father died in the massacre.

In his turban and rags, beggar Novarro goes to Bombay, to sell the diamond. But, the jeweler is crooked; to get the gem for nothing, he yells "Thief!" About to lose his diamond, Novarro is assisted by American tourist Conrad Nagel (as William "Bill" Darsay). Mr. Nagel was in the jeweler's shop, and witnessed the incident. In gratitude, Novarro tries to give his Nagel the diamond, but he declines. Next, Novarro sells the diamond, and becomes a wealthy gentlemen.

Now playing polo, Novarro meets shapely young Madge Evans (as Janice Darsey), who is attracted to the handsome horseman. "I adore precious stones," she tells Novarro. The two begin a romance, which makes race-conscious mother Marjorie Rambeau uncomfortable. Novarro and Ms. Evans want to marry, despite ethnic and religious differences. Nagel, Evans' brother, re-enters the picture. He forbids the marriage, reminding Evans, "You're a white woman!"

While sometimes unsatisfying, this film winds up being more thoughtfully presented than you'd expect. The prejudicial issues are represented surprisingly well for the time. MGM production standards are high for star Novarro, who was assigned these (arguably) inappropriate "ethnic" roles frequently, and Evans is an attractive leading lady. In his last American film, director Jacques Feyder shines, subtlety introducing Nagel's character and staging scenes well.

****** Son of India (8/1/31) Jacques Feyder ~ Ramon Novarro, Madge Evans, Conrad Nagel, Marjorie Rambeau

4 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

7/10

Quintessential Transitional Hollywood

museumofdave8 January 2020

This incredibly well-produced MGM weeper is rich in studio-bound atmospherics, with entire Indian villages and epic jewelry stores recreated on a Hollywood backlot; the geniuses who assembled lush gardens and exotic princely surroundings provided their American audiences with a taste of mad romance unencumbered by logic or common sense, as rather fey Ramon Novarro, the leading hot star of the period, creates another ethnic type antithetical to his native Mexican roots, and does so with quiet dedication. Regardless of societal strictures, he and precious Madge Evans ignore convention, throw caution to the winds, and fall deeply into a heavy-breathing relationship, a possibility that the Hollywood Code would have completely forbidden only a few years later, as even the mention of mixed race marriage was generally taboo. And Novarro's rather precious, if effective style, would give way, too, to the whip-cracking undeniable masculinity of Clark Gable, who would brook no nonsense from anybody, and whose early films with Jean Harlow still crackle with lively sexual energy. Character stalwarts C. Aubrey Smith, Conrad Nagel and Marjorie Rambeau provide opposing viewpoints to the hapless lovers in this offbeat but oddly enchanting relic of a disappearing era.

3 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

6/10

Predictable but sweet and tragic love story

MissSimonetta2 May 2013

Warning: Spoilers

If you're at all familiar with old Hollywood, then you should know how most interracial relationships end: 1) both or one of the lovers dying, 2) one of the lovers ends up being biracial or actually a white person in disguise the whole time, or 3) the lovers nobly give up their relationship. Son of India (1931) does not break the trend, but it makes for an entertaining and heartbreaking love story nevertheless.

The plot starts out as a riches to rags to riches again story. The son of a successful jewel merchant is left with nothing but the clothes on his back and a priceless diamond when his father is murdered and his treasure plundered by a band of thieves. In the city, he gets framed for stealing but rescued from a guilty verdict by a visiting American who was a witness to the truth. Someone buys the diamond off of him, and he becomes a wealthy merchant. A decade passes and he meets a lovely American girl. The romantic and sexual attraction between them is mutual, and after spending a hunting trip alone together they decide to get married. Things get complicated when her prejudiced aunt and brother oppose the relationship. What makes matters even worse is that her brother is the man who rescued the merchant from prison all those years ago...

Ramon Novarro and Madge Evans have great chemistry as the wealthy Indian merchant and the adventurous American who fall in love. In the wrong hands, both of them could have come across as cloying and dull, but Novarro and Evans really bring them to life. Both are appealing characters with a great deal of charm. You really do feel that they could make each other happy, and when the conclusion comes, you wish they'd lived in a more liberated age where they could be together. The plot and its ultimate ending are predictable, but the finale actually made me sad and even a little angry because they were just so wonderful together!

This is definitely recommended for Novarro fans, as he is very charming in the lead. As far as pre-code films with interracial love stories go, I prefer The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933), which is a bit more sensual, ambiguous, and mature than this one. Still, if you love bittersweet romance, there's a good time to be had here.

3 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

5/10

Novarro's Sheik more Crawford than Valentino.

st-shot7 August 2010

Ramon Novarro, MGM's sound era answer to succeed Rudolph Valentino as Hollywood's great lover is cringingly and unintentionally hilarious in this tale of forbidden interracial love. Looking a touch more feminine than Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce and flatly delivering his lines with perfectly manicured arched eyebrows and clear Mexican accent Novarro's career disintegrates before your eyes.

Karim (Novarro) is the diamond obsessed son of a merchant making his way through some lawless terrain of India where he is befriended by a holy man that saves him from a bandit massacre in which he is the only survivor. Reduced to poverty the rag attired Karim attempts to sell the most precious diamond of his fathers collection but is in turn accused of stealing it from an unscrupulous Indian jewelry dealer. A visiting American (Conrad Nagel) saves Karim from prison and gets his diamond back. Karim then enters into a passionate affair with his sister Janice though he is unaware they are related. Janice's aunt is aghast at this blatant act of miscegenation involving the family name and takes steps to prevent it.

Son of India may have had a decent chance in dealing with a social taboo in the same exotically sensual way Frank Capra does in The Bitter Tea of General Yen with a different and more natural lead. Novarro's wooden style is further inhibited by the fact his character has a spoiled surly immature side to him that would make Sabu look like an intellectual. Madge Evans as Janice is feisty and natural as an innocent abroad and holds up her end of the bargain in spite of Ramon. Marjorie Rambeau as a microcosm of "proper" American society gets her racist message across with wide eyed disapproval and inflective disdain.

Cedric Gibbons and staff provide the usual lush and exotic sets while Harold Rosson's camera records some beautifully lit compositions and portraits of minor characters but with Novarro at the center of this weepie no amount of flawless make-up can make up for such a flawed performance.

6 out of 14 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

9/10

Bittersweet romance of old India, holds up well

overseer-312 May 2006

Handsome Ramon Novarro and beautiful Madge Evans play a pair of unlikely star-crossed lovers in old India, in this pleasant MGM sleeper-romance, Son of India (1931).

Madge plays a progressive American girl visiting India with her aunt as chaperon. She slowly falls for Ramon's character, an Indian prince, trained by his father to be a jewel connoisseur and merchant.

Conrad Nagel plays Madge's American brother, who befriends the Indian prince and helps him out of a jam, thereby turning his life around and guaranteeing him his fortune.

Although there is genuine fondness between the brother and the prince, problems arise when the young couple decide they are both in love with one another and want to get married. The old Indian caste system threatens to intervene and separate the young couple. Will the races mix and love conquer all, or will old world tradition rule the day through the caste system, and send the American girl back home? This is a not to be missed treat for the Ramon Novarro fan. I also enjoyed Madge Evans' performance quite a bit; usually she was in secondary supporting roles, but here she finally has a romantic part she can really sink her teeth into. I liked her chemistry with Ramon.

Shown occasionally on TCM and worth the wait. Recommended. 9 out of 10.

10 out of 11 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

7/10

Sometimes the romance is sweet and appealing, but occasionally it's also a bit on the sticky side...

planktonrules25 July 2010

Warning: Spoilers

This film is set in India. Ramon Novarro and his father have just struck it rich--finding a diamond that is big enough to choke a horse! However, their joy is short-lived when a gang of thieves set upon them--killing the father. Ramon is lucky and survives, but his luck seems short-lived when he tries to sell the diamond. An evil merchant claims Novarro stole the stone and it looks like he's built up a wonderful case against the innocent young man--when a stranger intervenes. Conrad Nagel saw that the stone WAS Novarro's and tells the authorities. As a result, Ramon feels he owes a huge debt to Nagel for saving him.

Ten years later finds Novarro much, much wealthier. He apparently was able to use his fortune to amass an even larger fortune and owns gem mines that make him one of the richest men in the country. A pretty American lady (Madge Evans) is visiting India and meets Ramon. Naturally they fall in love--to the dismay of her mother--who is much more concerned with what people might think of her daughter marrying an Indian than the lady's happiness. Despite the mother's disdain, Madge runs off with Ramon and they have a long romantic rendezvous in the jungle. Both the lovers decide to throw caution to the wind and despite differences in religion, culture and race, they decide to marry. Then, out of the blue, Nagel returns....

The romantic jungle portion of the film makes up a huge chunk of the film and, for the most part, it's incredibly romantic and sweet. However, I must also admit that just a few times their romantic banter bordered on the sticky and even slightly nauseating. It was as if the writers from MGM didn't read the lines out loud to know whether or not they really sounded real or just really really strange. I could overlook this, but diabetics are strongly cautioned to avoid the film--or at least fast-forward through the sugar-infused portions. Despite this, I did appreciate that the film tackled the notion of interracial love--a topic made taboo with the new Production Code enacted in 1934.

Well done but it manages to just miss the mark...

2 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

User Reviews

See also

Opinion

Details

Storyline

Did You Know?

Photo & Video

Related Items

User Lists

Recently Viewed