If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Good concept, poorly executed.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The British colonial authorities use a contrived incident to stage a show trial to prove Indian inferiority and thereby further justify Britain's continued colonial occupation of India. Through clever directing, this movie appeals to the audience's sense of outrage at the British who are impervious to the loud and widespread demands that they leave India. The tension between the Indians and English soon becomes apparent. it is this tension that becomes the basis for the drama that unfolds. A young woman arrives in India and confronted by her own sexuality has a mental breakdown and accuses her companion, an Indian physician, of attempted rape. This allegation further widens the rift between the Indians and the British, and intensifies calls for the British to leave. This in turn makes the British even more determined to put the doctor on trial and get a conviction. The Indian defense counsel considered the trial a sham, protests get louder, yet the British continue undaunted. This sets the stage for even more dramatics, which will not be discussed here. To find out the exciting conclusion to this story, and how tensions,, get resolved, watch the movie. This movie is a great work of art.

David Lean's last film "A Passage to India" was far from his best but it was certainly an improvement over both "Doctor Zhivago" and "Ryan's Daughter". Lean himself wrote the script, (and edited the picture), from E M. Forster's novel and it's an intelligent as well as a fairly sumptuous epic, magnificently shot by Ernest Day and very well cast with the obvious exception of Alec Guinness in brown face as an Indian Brahmin. It's not actually a bad performance and yet there is something vaguely offensive in having a white English actor 'blacked up' when there were so many very talented Indian actors available. On the other hand, you certainly can't fault Judy Davis as Adela, Peggy Ashcroft as Mrs Moore or Victor Banerjee as Dr Aziz.Ashcroft is magnificent. She won several awards for this role, including the Oscar and there's excellent work from a first-rate supporting cast. At 164 minutes it's a little on the long side; it was as if, after "The Bridge on the River Kwai", Lean found it impossible to keep things tight. Nevertheless, this did mark something of a return to form and it doesn't disgrace the great novel on which it is based.

It's the first time out of England for Adela Quested (Judy Davis) and she is drawn to the Marabar Caves in India. She's traveling with her friend Mrs. Moore (Peggy Ashcroft) who's the mother of her boyfriend city magistrate Ronny Heaslop (Nigel Havers). They are met on the train by the Turtons. Mrs. Moore encounters widower Dr. Aziz Ahmed in a rundown mosque. He is invited to tea with the ladies, Mr. Fielding (James Fox) and Professor Godbole (Alec Guinness). Aziz invites them to see the caves and spends a great deal of money out of obligation. Mrs. Moore is tired by the experience. Aziz, Adela and the guide go off to the higher caves. Adela comes back accusing Aziz of molesting her and Aziz is arrested.It's a fascinating look at colonial India and the clash of cultures. I would have liked Godbole to be played by an Indian. Alec Guinness is fine but he's not doing anything extraordinary. This seems like a nice simple period piece and then the twist happens. I like that all the characters get turn on their heads. It's unexpected and fascinating.

The trailers for this film were all about the intrigue of mystical India, elephants, temples, jungle, exotic scenery! And, to be fair, there actually was some of that in the first part of the movie. But it had little to nothing to do with the story they were trying to tell. It was simply a little wallpaper to perk up an otherwise dreary, little story.So the British colonists were snobbish, racist, elitist jerks? Well, maybe that was news in the 20's when the book was written, but I think most anyone with a pulse had figured that out by 1984.And the very title "Passage to India" evokes thoughts of exotic countryside and Indiana Jonesish adventure. Instead we get a few minutes of travelogue scenery and then two hours or more of tepid courtroom drama. It should have been made as a Perry Mason episode ("The Case of the Confused Englishwoman"?) and it would have been a lot more honest.Not impressed...