Flame Over India Blu-ray offers solid video and audio in this enjoyable Blu-ray release
In northwestern India soon after the turn of the 20th Century, Moslem rebels seek to kill a six-year-old Hindu prince to end his family line. Captain Scott of the British Army is ordered to get the prince out of the region safely. Adventure ensues as Scott sneaks the child away, through Moslem held territory, by train. Also on board are the boy's American governess, an arms merchant, a cynical reporter, and two upper class Britons.
We live in a world of such radicalized religiosity that it's sometimes hard to remember that religious fanaticism is nothing
new, and has indeed been around seemingly since time immemorial. That said, it's hard to imagine a film like North
West Frontier (released in the United States as Flame Over India) being made in today's politically correct
atmosphere. This 1959 British production takes a glossy but relatively unvarnished look at simmering early 20th
century tensions between Muslims and Hindus in what was then called British India but which has since become a part
of Pakistan, a country of course no stranger to simmering religious tensions. In the United States, where differences
between Christians are sometimes swept under the rug in the guise of collegiality, and where minority religions are
often not really part of the national dialogue at all, it can be hard to understand the radical differences in belief that
colored (and continue to color) this part of the world. This is somewhat the same situation that seems to confound a lot
of Westerners when confronted with the apparently unending conflict between Arabs and Israelis, which on its face is a
struggle for nationhood and territory but which some wags have traced back to Abraham, Sarah and Hagar and various
decisions that were made thousands of years ago, affecting countless psyches in their wake. As the narrator states so
eloquently in the opening sequence of North West Frontier, the conflict between the Muslims and Hindus in this
film, as perhaps with every other religious conflict in the long sordid history of Mankind, comes down to people arguing
over what name to call God. This large scale film is a sort of "road" picture, with a group of desperate people
attempting to find safety, not just for themselves, but perhaps most importantly for a young charge, a Hindu Prince put
into their care for safekeeping.
The central conflict in North West Frontier between the Muslims and the Hindus doesn't really need to be
understood to grasp the general tenor of what's going on in the film, and in fact one of the central subplots is not the
conflict itself, but the British control of India, which the British see as "bringing order" to a lawless region, but which the
natives of course have a different reaction to. Kenneth More portrays upright and dutiful Captain Scott, who has been
entrusted with getting young Prince Kishan (an adorable Govind Raja Ross) to safety, along with the Prince's American
governess, Catherine Wyatt (Lauren Bacall). Their escape from the royal palace is fraught with danger when they're
surrounded by attacking Muslims on horseback, and they actually have to ditch their own horses and make their way to
a
British outpost via a variety of means, including walking.
Unfortunately once they get to the outpost, it becomes clear that an approaching Muslim attack force will soon take
everyone prisoner, and so a desperate gambit is put into play whereby Captain Scott, Catherine, young Prince Kishan
and a couple of other hangers-on attempt to get to safety via an old train. This odd group of "castaways" includes two
elderly British (played by Wilfrid Hyde-White and Ursula Jeans) and a swarthy Muslim journalist named Van Leyden
(Herbert Lom), who may have more than mere reportage on his mind. (A couple of sidebars here are worth mentioning.
Lom played a Muslim prince in El Cid, a film which has yet to see the Blu-ray light of day stateside. Also, Van
Leyden's name is often pronounced so quickly and oddly in this film that it sometimes sounds uncomfortably close to
"bin Laden", something that actually seems rather prescient considering one of the film's plot machinations.)
North West Frontier is extremely well staged by director J. Lee Thompson, who really made his first substantial
international mark with this film after years as a journeyman (he would go on to helm such classics as The Guns of
Navarone and the original Cape Fear). The film is full of manic tracking and crane shots, with a kinetic
quality that really helps keep the story interesting and visually compelling. There is a really brilliantly staged set piece
on a huge trestle bridge that has been bombed that will have agoraphobics grabbing their chair arms in sweaty
temerity, even if the matte work shows its seams a little more obviously in this high definition presentation. There's
also an uncommonly objective view in a couple of scenes here (including a really disturbing sequence featuring the
aftermath of a slaughter) wherein Britain's claims to hegemony and "creating order" are rather pointedly questioned.
It's fun to see Bacall in a period piece, something her sultry demeanor might not initially suggest she's perfectly suited
for, but she acquits herself quite nicely here. If there aren't exactly romantic sparks flying between her and More,
there's a gentle subtext of attraction hinted at that makes their shared predicament more compelling. The supporting
cast is aces, including the always wonderful Hyde-White, who is both funny and touching by turns. Lom does a decent
job in managing not to chew the scenery until it's absolutely impossible not to, in the film's kind of silly climax.
North West Frontier is an epic adventure film that deserves wider renown, especially since this sort of film really
isn't made anymore. The subplot of British colonial rule may not seem as potent today as it may have even as late as
1959, but the other point of religious extremism seems perhaps more relevant than ever today.
Note: As seems to be the case with most VCI Blu-ray releases, the niche label has a real problem accurately
labeling their product. Though some of this is addressed below in the various spec sections, there are several
misattributions either on the keepcase insert or the disc menu itself. The insert states that the video is NTSC 4x3,
when of course it's an anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 aspect ratio correctly displayed in 16x9. While the keepcase
insert at least gets the audio right by detailing an LPCM 2.0 track, the disc menu lists the audio as Dolby 2.0. VCI would
do itself a service by managing these little details better.
Flame Over India (AKA North West Frontier) is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of VCI Entertainment with a VC-
1 encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This is to my recollection the first Cinemascope feature released by VCI on Blu-ray, and
the results, if not as spectacular as might have been hoped, are at least solid. VCI has had a tendency with some of their
Blu-ray releases to smear on the digital noise reduction with a fairly aggressive hand, though for the most part their Rank
Collection releases have been spared that approach, something which continues here. Not only is grain visible, in a couple
of shots it gets perilously close to noise levels, especially in some shots of the sky. The image is decently crisp and clear
and fine object detail is quite pleasing in close-ups. Where this transfer misses the mark at least partially is in its color timing, and to a lesser
extent with some minor
haloing which is evident in several shots. In terms of the color timing, things are
way too yellow throughout several swaths of this presentation, giving flesh tones a jaundiced look and bathing a lot
of the image in a sort of saffron hue. Because of this tendency, reds drift toward orange and blues have a slightly green
tinge. This anomaly is worst in the film's opening 30 minutes or so, and while it improves markedly after that point, it's prevalent off and on
throughout to one degree or
another. A good telecine colorist could have at least ameliorated this had they color timed this release against a reference
print, but perhaps there wasn't one available to them. The elements are in quite good condition, with only occasional scratches and a stray line
or two (usually in the middle of the frame) remaining after what is advertised as a "restoration".
Flame Over India features two uncompressed LPCM tracks (despite VCI's continued insistence on their Blu-ray
releases that they have "Dolby" tracks), one the film's original mono track delivered via LPCM 2.0 and a so-called
"enhanced" track delivered via LPCM 4.0. Stick with the 2.0 track for a number of reasons. It offers excellent fidelity with
really nice dynamic range, and well prioritized dialogue, effects and score. While the 4.0 track does significantly open up
the soundfield, especially in some of the action sequences, it also has a number of truly bizarre anomalies, including really
bad phasing and chorusing, and at circa 1:55:00 or so, a completely weird looping echo of a baby crying that makes the
poor tot sound like the spawn of Satan.
Whatever you call it, Flame Over India and/or North West Frontier is an often thrilling adventure yarn, full of
some fantastic scenery and local color. Bacall and More make for a very appealing lead duo, and the supporting cast is full
of familiar faces, all of whom do fine work. This was a sumptuous Cinemascope production and helped elevate J. Lee
Thompson to the A-list rank (no pun intended, considering this film's studio) of directors. The Blu-ray is a somewhat mixed
bag. While the video is decently sharp and well detailed, the color timing is really peculiarly yellow in the opening half hour especially. The
"enhanced" 4.0
audio also has some significant problems, though at least the LPCM 2.0 mix sounds fine. For those who can overlook these
niggling issues, Flame Over India offers a great story and some very exciting set pieces, and with caveats noted,
comes Recommended.
Independent distributors VCI Entertainment will release on Blu-ray director J. Lee Thompson's Flame Over India a.k.a The North West Frontier (1959), starring Kenneth More, Lauren Bacall and Herbert Lom. The preliminary release date set by the distributors is June ...
