Bhowani Junction

Released May 1, 1956

1 hr. 50 min.

Adventure

List

100%

5 Reviews

Tomatometer

62%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Victoria Jones (Ava Gardner) is a half-Indian, half-British woman living in India on the verge of its independence. She is torn between her Indian and her British heritage, just as she is torn between two men. One, Patrick Taylor (Bill Travers), is her childhood sweetheart and fellow Anglo-Indian, while the other is Col. Rodney Savage (Stewart Granger), a British officer assigned to stop demonstrators from preventing the trains from departing the local station on time.

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Frances H

I saw this film when I was 6 in a movie theater with my aunt as it played in a double bill with Lady and the Tramp (they used to play odd flicks together back then--even when I was a teen, small theaters like the one in Elizabeth, Pa. played a double bill of Bambi and The War Lord, which was about the Norman Right of the First Night for every lord when a peasant on his land got married). Even then I liked it and seeing it again at 70, I appreciated it even more. Ava Gardner was at her loveliest and Stewart Granger still handsome and vital, with those sexy silver hair around his temples--je aged well!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/21/20

Full Review

Audience Member

Just watched it again on TCM. VG. Great plot twist at end... stay awake for the two second shot of the train coach!

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

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Audience Member

Excellent re-creation of 1947 India. Gardner's portrayal of the Anglo-Indian girl is quite compelling. This is one of the best films which I have ever seen.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

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ashley h

Bhowani Junction is a decent film. It is about the Anglo-Indian Victoria Jones who seeks her true identity amid the chaos of the British withdrawal from India. Ava Gardner and Stewart Granger give good performances. The screenplay is a little slow in places. George Cukor did an alright job directing this movie. I liked this motion picture because of the adventure and drama plus romance.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Good film set in a rarely visited time in Indian history, at least for Hollywood. I guess Gandhi is the other major film dealing with some of the same issues of the disentanglement of Britain from what had been the jewel in the crown of its empire and the consequences for those that felt neither fully British nor fully Indian, but had to choose whether to stay or go. The John Masters book on which the film is based was written in the early 1950s, the events are of the late 40s and so the language and attitudes are of that time. it also features several British actors 'blacked up' to play Indians and Anglo-Indians. I suspect this sends TV schedulers into all sorts of dithers over political correctness, which means that the film isn't shown very often these days, which is a shame.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

Full Review

walter m

"Bhowani Junction" starts with General Savage(Stewart Granger) and Victoria Jones(Ava Gardner) having an emotional farewell at a train station in India in 1947. On the train ride to Calcutta, Savage explains to General Ackerby(Ronald Adam) how they came to be together, starting with a railroad strike when he extended her service as a WAC. The Communists use that peaceful disruption as a way of stealing a train load of dynamite. For its time, "Bhowani Junction" is a sensitive and nuanced look at India at indpendepence with a particular respect for the non-violent protests.(I remember a history teacher mentioning the trick involving the untouchables. I hope this isn't where he got it from.) Of particular interest is Govindaswami's(Marne Maitland) statement about missing the British which is beautifully dripping with sarcasm. Plus, the movie seeks to explore identity in such complicated times and even takes a couple of shots at sexism. Granted, this was made at the height of the Cold War, so of course the Communists get to be the baddies, with a couple of performances out of the Raymond Massey school of melodramatic evil acting, but with no mention of the bloody mess that partition would soon make of the subcontinent.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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George Cukor

Director

Ava Gardner

Victoria Jones

Stewart Granger

Col. Rodney Savage

Bill Travers

Patrick Taylor

Abraham Sofaer

Surabhai

Francis Matthews

Ranjit Kasel

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Sean Axmaker

Seanax.com

... a Hollywood drama with an old-fashioned sense of storytelling and a modern (for the time) approach to colonialism, bigotry and identity.

Dec 6, 2009

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Michael E. Grost

Classic Film and Television

A powerful romantic drama - and look at nonviolent protest in India.

Aug 8, 2008

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Ava Gardner gives one of her strongest performances as an Anglo-Indian woman in love with three men, but despite on-location shooting, pressures from the censors diluted the sexual and racial tensions.

Rated: B-

Apr 19, 2007

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Robin Clifford

Reeling Reviews

Rated: 3/5

Oct 8, 2004

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Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

The film had an intimacy about it even as it was epic in scope, something that rarely happens in political films.

Rated: B+

Jan 1, 2000

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Synopsis

Victoria Jones (Ava Gardner) is a half-Indian, half-British woman living in India on the verge of its independence. She is torn between her Indian and her British heritage, just as she is torn between two men. One, Patrick Taylor (Bill Travers), is her childhood sweetheart and fellow Anglo-Indian, while the other is Col. Rodney Savage (Stewart Granger), a British officer assigned to stop demonstrators from preventing the trains from departing the local station on time.

Director: George Cukor
Screenwriter: John Masters, Ivan Moffat, Sonya Levien
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Co: Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Genre: Adventure
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 1, 1956, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 22, 2009
Sound Mix: Stereo

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