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''India Speaks'' is a 1933
Pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...
adventure film, combining elements of documentaries and travelogue programs, mostly taking place on the Indian sub-continent along with staged bits spliced in to aid story flow. Produced by
Walter Futter Walter Futter (January 2, 1900 – March 3, 1958) was a film producer and director in the United States. After an initial career cutting and editing films, Futter began writing and producing his own shorts and movies, often using footage he acquir ...
from a screenplay by Norman Houston, the film was directed, narrated and starring
Richard Halliburton Richard Halliburton (January 9, 1900 – presumed dead after March 24, 1939) was an American travel writer and adventurer who swam the length of the Panama Canal and paid the lowest toll in its history—36 cents in 1928. He disappeared at ...
. A sequel to the popular film '' Africa Speaks!''.


Plot

Ostensibly a filmed recollection of Richard Halliburton's travels on the Indian sub-continent, the film combined actual footage shot in India, with scenes which were created on the sound stages of Hollywood. Halliburton was a well-known adventurer of the day, having traveled the world extensively, and even becoming the first man to swim the
Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...
. The film follows Halliburton's travels, from the Hindu temple of the Goddess of Kali, through the deserted temples of Angkor Wat, where he is tempted to try to gain a fortune in jewels, only to be thwarted by a guardian cobra. He watches as Hindu devotees wash away their sins in the Ganges River, and is discovered as he attempts to sneak into the great mosque in
Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...
during the feast of Ramadan. He falls in love with a 16-year-old princess from Kashmir, only to have the relationship aborted by the weather, then becomes friends with a high-ranking Lama in Tibet. At one point, the film contains the first ever footage of ecstatic rites by Hindus, in the city of Madras, whereby they pierce their cheeks and tongues with sharp needles, and pull large carts which are attached to their bodies by means of hooks inserted in their flesh. The only credited cast member is
Richard Halliburton Richard Halliburton (January 9, 1900 – presumed dead after March 24, 1939) was an American travel writer and adventurer who swam the length of the Panama Canal and paid the lowest toll in its history—36 cents in 1928. He disappeared at ...
, who stars as "The Adventurer", as well as being the narrator of the film.


Production

In 1932,
United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stud ...
reached an agreement with the producer, Walter Futter, to produce a dramatized version of a travelogue of the travels of the well-known adventurer, Richard Halliburton. In March 1933, the distribution rights were transferred to
RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...
. The working title of this film was ''Jade'', but was changed to ''India Speaks'' in January 1931. This film was the second in Futter's series of dramatic travelogues, the first being ''Africa Speaks''. The cinematographers, Peverell Marley, Robert Connell, and H. T. Cowling, spent several months in India and southeast Asia, taking footage used in the film. While many industry sources of the period claimed that Halliburton had overseen the photography in Asia, in a personal appearance at Radio City Music Hall, admitted that he had not been in Asia while the footage was being shot. This point is also highlighted by Futter in an on-screen forward to the film. The film's release was delayed when Futter developed a case of pneumonia. Controversy arose after the film was released, with one of the cameramen, Herford Tynes Cowling (H.T. Cowling), claiming to be the producer of the film, and that his footage was being misused. He filed a grievance with the Federal Trade Commission to bar the film from being shown, but no record exists that the grievance was successful.


Reception

Most of the reviews at the time were positive. ''
Screenland ''Screenland'' was a monthly U.S. magazine about movies, published between September 1920 and June 1971,New York American :''Includes coverage of New York Journal-American and its predecessors New York Journal, The Journal, New York American and New York Evening Journal'' The ''New York Journal-American'' was a daily newspaper published in New York City from 1937 t ...
'' called the picture "a fascinating film record of the eternal Mother India ... rest assured that you'll applaud the offering as did the first audiences." The '' Daily News'' called it "thrilling", while '' Film Daily'' described it as an "Exciting, interesting and thrilling adventure film with unusually fine narrative." However, ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' said of the film, "It turns out to be a wearisome 80 minutes of travelog, irritatingly interrupted by indifferent acting"; and
Mordaunt Hall Mordaunt Hall (1 November 1878 – 2 July 1973) was the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for ''The New York Times'', working from October 1924 to September 1934.The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' called it "a curious concoction of fact and fiction".


Preservation status

This is now considered a
lost film A lost film is a feature Feature may refer to: Computing * Feature (CAD), could be a hole, pocket, or notch * Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob * Feature (software design) is an intentional distinguishing char ...
.


Popular culture

The title of this film, along with other films with similar titles such as '' Africa Speaks!'' and '' Mussolini Speaks'', gave Duke Ellington the idea to call his song " Harlem Speaks". The film was also made into a novel, although it is not clear whether this happened before or after the film was released to the public. The book was written by Will C. Murphey.


See also

* List of lost films


References


External links

* {{IMDb title, 0024178
Motion Picture Herald, April 15, 1933, page 12World Explorer Discovers Hollywood, Motion Picture Magazine, April 1933Film Fakers, International Photographer, June 1933
American black-and-white films Films set in India Films set in Cambodia American documentary films American drama films 1933 drama films 1933 films 1933 documentary films Lost American films 1930s American films