Pre-Code: Son of India(1931).

Son of India(1931). A romance film directed by Jacques Feyder. The film is based on the 1882 novel Mr. Issacs written by Francis Marion Crawford. Cast:Ramon Novarro, Conrad Nagel and Madge Evans.

On their long journey across India, Indian jewel trader named Hamid, whose life has not been an easy one and his son Karim, stop their caravan at an Indian village, where they plan to spend the night. There Hamid, tells his son that gratitude is the most important virtue one can possess. He then gives Karim his most precious possession, a large diamond.

Later, Karim meets Rao Rama, an old holy man, who saves his life by hiding him in a shallow grave when a gang of bandits, massacre the entire village, including his father, Hamid.

Now Karim,  has to fend for himself on his travels to Bombay, where he tries to sell the diamond in a jewelry store. The jeweler tries to cheat Karim, by offering him only twenty rupee for the gem. When Karim tries to leaves the store, the merchant calls him a thief and has him arrested.

Things look pretty grim for Karim, until his luck changes, when a wealthy American named William Darsay, overhears the trial and steps forward as a witness to the fact that the jewel belonged to Karim.

Karim, is found innocent and his diamond is returned to him.

Later, when Karim finds William dining in his hotel, he tries to thank him by giving him the diamond, but the American refuses to accept it. Karim, then tells the kind William, that if he will not accept the gift, he must remain forever indebted to him.

While leaving the hotel, Karim is stopped by a wealthy man, who offers him a a lot of money for the diamond, which he accepts. Karim, is now a wealthy merchant.

Many years later while, at a polo match, he meets and falls in love with Williams sister, Janice Darsay.

Later, while visiting Karim at his mansion, Janice is called away by her aunt, who insists that she see William, in Calcutta. Janice, soon realizes her aunt's feelings about her relationship with Karim, when she tells her how she feels about her dating an Indian. Despite her aunt's wishes, Janice goes on a tiger hunt with Karim. Her aunt, then sends a message to William, telling him to come at once to save his sister.

While on their tiger hunt Karim, crosses paths with the bandit who killed his father and during their fight, Janice falls into a poisoned plant and is wounded. After Karim, removes the poison from Janice, the two become engaged.

When William arrives, he is surprised to see that Karim is the Indian with whom his sister is in love with. Even though William likes Karim, he asks him to call off the wedding, because an interracial marriage will ostracize Janice from her friends and family. Will Karim and Janice break off their engagement?

Son of India is a pre-code film starring one of the great actors of silent films, Ramon Novarro. The movie will hold your interest even though it is a very predictable love story. A must see if you are a Ramon Novarro, fan.

Madge Evans (July 1, 1909 – April 26, 1981). Was featured in print ads as the 'Fairy Soap girl' as an infant. She made her professional debut at the age of six months, posing for artist's models.

When she was four years old, Evans was featured in a series of child plays produced by William A. Brady. She worked at the old Long Island, New York movie studio.

Evans posed in a mother and child tableau with Anita Stewart, then 16, for an Anheuser-Busch Brewing Company calendar, and as the little mountain girl in Heidi of the Alps.

At the age of 8 in 1917, Evans appeared in the Broadway production of Peter Ibbetson with John Barrymore, Constance Collier and Laura Hope Crews.

 At 17, she returned to the stage and appeared as Daisy Mayme. Some of her best work in plays came in productions of Dread, The Marquis, and The Conquering Male.

Her last appearance was in Philip Goes Forth produced by George Kelley.

Evans' mother took her to England and Europe when she was 15.  As a child film actress, Evans had quite a prolific career appearing in dozens of films. She appeared with Marguerite Clark in: The Seven Sisters (1915), a film with a large female cast that had been played on stage with Clark's rival Mary Pickford and Laurette Taylor.

She was featured with Robert Warwick in, Alias Jimmy Valentine (1915). At 14, she stared in, On the Banks of the Wabash (1923). She co-starred with Richard Barthelmess in, Classmates (1924). She was working on stage when she signed with Metro Goldwyn Mayer in 1927.

Working for MGM in the 1930s, she performed in, Dinner at Eight (1933), Broadway to Hollywood (1933), Hell Below (1933), and David Copperfield (1935). In 1933, she starred with James Cagney in, The Mayor of Hell.

Other notable movies in which she performed: Beauty for Sale (1933), Grand Canary (1934), What Every Woman Knows (1934), and Pennies From Heaven (1936).

In 1939, she married playwright Sidney Kingsley, best known for his plays Dead End and Detective Story which were later turned into popular films. The couple owned a 50-acre estate two miles from Oakland, New Jersey.

Following her marriage to Kingsley, Evans left Hollywood and moved to the New Jersey home.

Later, she worked in radio and television in New York City. Evans performed on the Philco Television Playhouse (1949–1950), Studio One (1954), Matinee Theater (1955), and The Alcoa Hour (1956). She refused repeated offers to return to Hollywood. She retired in 1971. Madge Evans died at her home in Oakland, New Jersey from cancer in 1981, aged 71.

Pre-Code: Mata Hari(1931).

Mata Hari(1931). A Pre-Code film loosely based on the life of Mata Hari (the stage name of Margaretha Geertruida Zelle), an exotic dancer/courtesan executed for espionage during World War I. The film stars Greta Garbo in the title role. The film is credited with popularizing the legend of Mata Hari. The third and final film in which Ramon Novarro and Lewis Stone both appeared, though they have no scenes together.

During World War I, after the execution of a group of convicted spies, Dubois, chief of the French Spy Bureau, vows that he will someday find enough evidence to prosecute France's greatest enemy, Mata Hari, a famous dancer, who lives a double life as a German spy.

Mata, receives her assignments from a man named Andriani, who wants her to use her charms to learn more about the secret messages and maps detailing Russian troop movements, from the French and Russian officers.

Soon after meeting Lieutenant Alexis Rosanoff of the Russian Imperial Air Force, a flier who was had a successful flight over German lines to bring back a secret message, Mata begins an affair and falls in love  with him. At first Mata, does not know that Alexis has the secret documents she has been ordered to steal.

Later, when Mata learns that Alexis is carrying the secret documents, she sleeps with him and darkens the apartment so that her fellow agents can take the papers, copy them and return them before anybody notices.  Andriani,  has Carlotta, one of his spies, killed for falling in love on the job. He then tells Mata that she must continue her relationship with Alexis.

Looking for a way to find the evidence he needs against Mata, Dubois tells  her ex-lover General Shubin, that Mata has been having an affair with Alexis, hoping out of jealousy he will expose her treachery.

Shubin, does confront Mata, and Mata tries to prove that she does not love Alexis by showing Shubin the secret photographs she stole from the lieutenant. Not believing her, Shubin calls the embassy to have Mata arrested, but Mata shoots him so she can get away.

As Mata, leaves the murder scene, Andriani tells her that her Paris assignment is over and that she must now go to Amsterdam . Andriani, also informs her that Alexis has been injured in an airplane crash and has been hospitalized. He then forbids her to visit Alexis, Mata resigns so she can be with Alexis. At his bedside, Mata promises the blinded Alexis that she will never leave him. As soon as Mata leaves the hospital, she is arrested by Dubois and put on trial for murder and espionage.Will she be able to prevent Alexis from ever knowing about her crimes and avoid execution?

 

I really enjoyed this dramatic love story and thought Great Garbo, looked beautiful performing the exciting role as a double agent.

Karen Morley (December 12, 1909 – March 8, 2003). After working at the Pasadena Playhouse, she came to the attention of the director Clarence Brown when he was looking for an actress to stand-in for Greta Garbo in screen tests.

This led to a contract with MGM and roles in such films as Mata Hari (1931), Scarface (1932), The Phantom of Crestwood (1932), The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932), Arsene Lupin (1933) and Dinner at Eight (1933).

 In 1934, Morley left MGM after arguments about her roles and her private life. Her first film after leaving MGM was Our Daily Bread (1934), directed by King Vidor. She continued to work as a freelance performer, and appeared in Michael Curtiz's Black Fury, and The Littlest Rebel with Shirley Temple.

Without the support of a studio, her roles became less frequent, however she played a supporting role in Pride and Prejudice (1940). Her career came to an end in 1947, when she testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee and refused to answer questions about her alleged American Communist Party membership. She maintained her political activism for the rest of her life. In 1954, she ran unsuccessfully for Lieutenant Governor of New York on the American Labor Party ticket. After being blacklisted in Hollywood by the studio bosses, she was never able to rebuild her acting career. In December 1999, at the age of 90, she appeared in the magazine Vanity Fair in an article about blacklist survivors.