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A Passage to India (1984)

Let's discuss the British-Indian classic A Passage to India. The film follows the lead up, trial, and aftermath of a British woman's accusation that an Indian doctor assaulted her in 1920's India.

Based on the novel by E.M. Forster

Directed and Written by David Lean

Produced by Lord John Brabourne and Richard Goodwin

Music by Maurice Jarre

Starring Victor Banerjee, Judy Davis, James Fox, Alec Guinness, Nigel Havers, Clive Swift, Roshan Seth, Saeed Jaffrey, Art Malik, Michael Culver, Richard Wilson, and DAME PEGGY ASHCROFT

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by Anonymousreply 59February 12, 2024 1:55 AM

Ismail Merchant really wanted to make this film and never forgave Lord John Brabourne for stealing the rights from under him.

by Anonymousreply 1January 21, 2024 7:24 PM

Sydney Pollack was also fighting for the rights of this film

by Anonymousreply 2January 21, 2024 7:25 PM

Poor Nigel Havers fell far from this to Coronation Street to obscurity.

Best Forster novel of them all.

by Anonymousreply 3January 21, 2024 7:25 PM

It is a A Passage to India!

by Anonymousreply 4January 21, 2024 7:29 PM

Is this thread started by the guy who started another thread about a first date with some Indian dude?

by Anonymousreply 5January 21, 2024 7:30 PM

Mrs. Moore!!!!!

by Anonymousreply 6January 21, 2024 7:31 PM

[quote] Is this thread started by the guy who started another thread about a first date with some Indian dude?

Yes.

by Anonymousreply 7January 21, 2024 7:31 PM

[quote] Mrs. Moore!!!!!

Esmiss Esmoor! Esmiss Esmoor!

by Anonymousreply 8January 21, 2024 7:32 PM

So, OP is using this thread to swot up on Indian history for his second date.

by Anonymousreply 9January 21, 2024 7:33 PM

Dame Peggy Ashcroft, who played Mrs. Moore in A Passage to India, played Barbie Batchelor in The Jewel in the Crown with Eric Porter.

by Anonymousreply 10January 21, 2024 7:34 PM

It's too bad the US didn't take on to Richard Wilson. He's a fun old crumudgeon.

by Anonymousreply 11January 21, 2024 7:37 PM

Art Malik was SO hot in this.

by Anonymousreply 12January 21, 2024 7:37 PM

And a 'queer' icon ^^^^

by Anonymousreply 13January 21, 2024 7:38 PM

The book was published 100 years ago.

A BBC remake to mark the event would have been decent.

Maggie or Judi or Vanessa or one of the other Dames as Peggy Ashcroft and Jodie Comer as Judy Davis.

by Anonymousreply 14January 21, 2024 7:41 PM

Judy Davis reminds me of an evil, cooler Katharine Hepburn in this. I love her.

by Anonymousreply 15January 21, 2024 7:42 PM

James Fox wasn't bad looking either

by Anonymousreply 16January 21, 2024 7:45 PM

"Jewel in the Crown" was better written and directed than the deflated-yet-bloated "Passage to India."

David Lean from 1950 usually had a flaccid voyeur's sensibility. Amid the visual brilliance, with the timeless sense of someone far on the spectrum.

by Anonymousreply 17January 21, 2024 7:45 PM

Colonialist Porn

by Anonymousreply 18January 21, 2024 7:47 PM

Kinda, R18, but the point of the book (and many of Forster's books) is the misfortune of British meddling in other cultures.

by Anonymousreply 19January 21, 2024 7:49 PM

A brilliant film despite the casting of Alec Guinness as an Indian, which can be forgiven due to the time it came out. Judy Davis and the rest of the cast shine, especially Victor Banerjee who breaks your heart.

by Anonymousreply 20January 21, 2024 7:49 PM

How is it an Indian film? Is Lawrence of Arabia an Arab film? Dr. Zhivago a Russian film?

Is 2001: A Space Odyssey an alien film?

by Anonymousreply 21January 21, 2024 7:49 PM

I’m South Asian and I liked this movie. It’s long which will turn people off but I never found it boring, and of course it’s gorgeous to look at.

by Anonymousreply 22January 21, 2024 7:55 PM

James Foxxxy was sooooooo hot in this. And, oh yeah, great movie.

by Anonymousreply 23January 21, 2024 7:58 PM

Forster was anti-colonialist.

by Anonymousreply 24January 21, 2024 8:01 PM

Op are you a law student looking for, but afraid of, Indian doctor dick?

by Anonymousreply 25January 21, 2024 8:04 PM

It's been confirmed, R25.

by Anonymousreply 26January 21, 2024 8:06 PM

The movie starts with us seeing things through Adela’s POV but as soon as whatever happened happens, it switched to a more objective viewpoint.

I love the score and cinematography.

by Anonymousreply 27January 21, 2024 8:06 PM

R18 = limited brain capacity.

by Anonymousreply 28January 21, 2024 8:07 PM

Dame Peggy was not afraid of Paul Robeson’s dick. She got IT!

A lesson for Op

by Anonymousreply 29January 21, 2024 8:07 PM

I forgot Clive Swift was in this

by Anonymousreply 30January 21, 2024 8:08 PM

[quote] I forgot Clive Swift was in this

Riiiiiiiichard!

by Anonymousreply 31January 21, 2024 8:11 PM

Mind the Indians, Richard.

by Anonymousreply 32January 21, 2024 8:16 PM

Looks like it was filmed in the early 60s.

by Anonymousreply 33January 21, 2024 8:17 PM

Yes, it's timeless.

by Anonymousreply 34January 21, 2024 8:36 PM

To this day I cannot see a back collar stud or button without thinking of this book and movie.

by Anonymousreply 35January 21, 2024 8:40 PM

Classic Butt Crusher

by Anonymousreply 36January 21, 2024 8:47 PM

Lean wanted to make this into another 70mm epic but HBO said no. They wouldn't even let him shoot in wide screen. Had he had his way, the film wouldn't have looked like an old movie, it would have resembled more one of his classics.

by Anonymousreply 37January 21, 2024 8:53 PM

R18 is a great representation of what passes for insight these days. Superficial and wrong, but it sure sounds virtuous.

by Anonymousreply 38January 21, 2024 8:58 PM

Judy Davis got an Oscar nomination but her reviews were mixed. People thought she was too sophisticated for the character. It does seem like someone more innocent and less worldly might have been a better fit.

by Anonymousreply 39January 21, 2024 9:04 PM

R14 much more likely you'd end up with Jodie Turner Smith, than Jodie Comer in an updated remake, especially if BBC was producing.

by Anonymousreply 40January 21, 2024 9:15 PM

Victor Banerjee was snubbed

by Anonymousreply 41January 21, 2024 9:16 PM

A great film.

by Anonymousreply 42January 21, 2024 9:16 PM

R38 Marry me.

by Anonymousreply 43January 21, 2024 9:23 PM

R40 Don’t you ever get tired of making repeated racial comments about movie casts? I bet you pollute the Broadway thread, and not forgetting any political thread. Take a well-earned vacation, or just fuck off.

by Anonymousreply 44January 21, 2024 9:36 PM

Judy Davis was completely miscast in this movie (because it is so hard to imagine anyone pushing her around) and yet she somehow still managed to turn in a classic performance anyway.

by Anonymousreply 45January 21, 2024 9:44 PM

I've got this strange feeling--

I've fallen in love!

(She's fallen in love!)

His kiss sent me reeling.

I know it was love!

(Oh, heavens above!)

(Hooray, hooray, hooray!

It's a glorious day today!)

And I know that at this juncture

I can't afford a puncture!

by Anonymousreply 46January 21, 2024 9:48 PM

Dame Peggy Ashcroft deserved her Oscar

by Anonymousreply 47January 21, 2024 11:00 PM

And Angela Lansbury was just the Dame to receive it.

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by Anonymousreply 48January 21, 2024 11:03 PM

Lord John Brabourne and Richard Goodwin also produced Murder on the Orient Express

by Anonymousreply 49January 22, 2024 12:13 AM

Is it a good book adaptation?

by Anonymousreply 50January 23, 2024 1:32 PM

I had a crush on Victor Bannerjee and Art Malik.

It was then I knew….

by Anonymousreply 51January 23, 2024 2:09 PM

...That you liked curry?

by Anonymousreply 52January 23, 2024 4:22 PM

It's on TCM this evening.

by Anonymousreply 53February 11, 2024 7:55 PM

There was a ton of on-set drama. Sir David Lean was a notorious bully of his actors, and he had never worked with Judy davis before and stupidly tried to bully her. well, if there's one human being no one can dominate, it's Judy Davis--she figured out his number right away and pushed back hard, and started undermining his confidence by telling him he didn't even understand Forster's novel (which is at some level true--as good a film as it is, he seems to think it's just a film about his favorite theme, sexual hysteria among the British ruling classes). He was apparently deeply rattled.

He was also breaking up with one of his wives during the filming--she plays Stella Moore Fielding in the final sequence set in the Himalayas.

by Anonymousreply 54February 11, 2024 8:23 PM

This is the famous bicycle scene with Judy Davis exploring a ruined temple outside the city. it's not in the original book, but Lean dded it because it highlights his obsession with British sexual hysteria.

It's both beautifully filmed and incredibly overwrought and melodramatic (if Lean had only not allowed Maurice Jarre to allow that soprano ululating!). But Davis's silent performance as she's aroused by the sculptures is remarkable.

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by Anonymousreply 55February 11, 2024 8:27 PM

OMG! It's starting.

by Anonymousreply 56February 11, 2024 9:04 PM

^^ Capote-esque writing there…

by Anonymousreply 57February 11, 2024 9:16 PM

R55, I like how the music in that scene indicates a lot more monkeys than we actually see.

by Anonymousreply 58February 11, 2024 9:48 PM

DAME PEGGY ASHCROFT deserved her Oscar.

She was a Dame back when the only other Dame was Edith Evans.

by Anonymousreply 59February 12, 2024 1:55 AM
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