ALEX FARBA

Viewed at Egyptian Theater, Hollywood, during film noir week. Another Ladd wartime programmer is "Calcutta" with always dependable beefy support from William Bendix. In this one both are military pilots flying missions over the Himalayas from Calcutta to Chungking. The "calcutta" location is obviously a studio set and the story quickly segues from a military setting to a noir drama in civilian clothes as Ladd and Bendix seek to track down the killer of their best pilot buddy. Ladd smokes a cigarette in nearly every scene emitting the smoke deftly through his nostrils and sports a wardrobe of white suits that is truly elegant. In a way this picture is more of a sartorial and cigarette promotion than a murder mystery. Ladd is more wooden than usual but looks great and that is really all that mattered to his fans of the time. The acting of the female lead, Gail Russell, is preposterously amateurish. When she delivered the line "you know how I feel about you" to a credulous Ladd it sounded so ridiculous it evoked unintended laughter from the sophisticated Egyptian audience.