North West Frontier
Date: 1959
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Production Company: The Rank Organisation; Marcel Hellman Productions
Stars: Kenneth More, Lauren Bacall, Herbert Lom, Wilfred Hyde-White, I.S. Johar
Location(s): Andalusía, Rajasthan (India)
Region(s): Rest Of The World, Spain
Storyline:
In Northwest India in 1905, Muslim rebels seek to kill a young Hindu prince. His father, the Maharajah, entrusts the prince to a British army captain, who undertakes to take him to safety. The last train has left, and he must improvise a rescue train from the stock left in the railway yard. the captain, the prince, his governess and assorted others contrive to stay one step ahead of the rebels until they reach safety.
Additional Information:
Screen captures uploaded by Phil B
Released in the United States under the title ‘Flame Over India’.
Ray Ellis’s article “Railway Films of the Raj” cited HERE gives some information on the locomotives used in the film, and notes that some of the rail sequences were filmed on the Zafra-Huelva railway in south-west Spain.
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- Capture 1
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India, the North West Frontier province, 1905. A view of the hills east of Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, looking across what is now Man Sagar Lake, but which in 1959 was dry ground.
- Capture 2
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Panning left, the camera finds the Maharaja's palace. Jal Mahal, Jaipur.
- Capture 3
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A group flees on horseback, only just ahead of the rebels who attacked the Maharajah's palace. This appears to be Sagar Road in Amer, Rajasthan.
- Capture 4
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Following the group, the camera pans left to find the Bihariji Temple on Sagar Road.
- Capture 5
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They are possibly still on Sagar Road here, but there's a cut from the previous capture.
- Capture 6
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Panning left again, probably Sagar Road. On the hilltop behind is Jaigarh Fort, seen from the northeast.
- Capture 7
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A rebel rifleman has them in his sights. Jaigarh Fort in the background on the hilltop, with the Jagat Shiromani Temple in the centre of the shot.
- Capture 8
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As they cautiously advance, on foot now, we see that the group is led by Captain Scott (Kenneth More). Following him are the young prince's governess, Catherine Wyatt (Lauren Bacall), and a small group of Indian soldiers. Somewhere in Amer, with a view between buildings of what looks like a part of the Jagat Shiromani Temple.
- Capture 9
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Scott leads his party past the Jagat Shiromani Temple. Apparently the rebels have moved on.
- Capture 10
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They move cautiously along a path beside Hanuman Sagar Lake in Amer. A soldier carries the young Prince Kishan (Govind Raja Ross).
- Capture 11
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They pause to look back. Shri Krishna Charan Mandir, a Hindu temple older than Jaipur, on Nahargarh Road on the ridge to the west of Man Sagar.
- Capture 12
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Looking back, they can see the Maharaja's palace burning. The view of Jal Mahal from Shri Krishna Charan Mandir.
- Capture 13
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The film's 'Haserabad'. A view of Hathroi Fort in Jaipur, from a viewpoint about 750 meters east of Jaipur Junction railway station. Urban sprawl now fills the area around Hathroi Fort.
- Capture 14
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Panning right from the previous screen grab, the camera finds refugees crowding the last train leaving for the safety of Kalapur. This is just east of the railway tracks heading out of Jaipur Junction. This spur of track has disappeared since 1959, and the buildings today house the Rajasthan Settlement Commissioner's Office.
- Capture 15
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A view to the other side of the tracks.
- Capture 16
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The refugee train heads out through the gates of the railway yard. The building visible to the left of the train is the same one seen in capture 15, and the track here would take the train to the main line at Jaipur Junction.
- Capture 17
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Opposite view, but now a different gate in a different wall, with a second fortified wall and gate beyond. This location caused some head-scratching, but page 209 of Steve Chibnall's account of J Lee Thompson's film career solves the mystery: "The film also required extensive set-construction work on location: 700 workmen were engaged to build the walls of a city, 400 feet long, 28 feet high and 8 feet thick. The stone had to be hauled seven miles from a quarry and water had to be piped from ever further afield. The production unit had to arrange for the feeding and accommodation of this huge workforce for two months before the five-day shoot of the attack on Haserabad could take place." So this is an enormous set!
- Capture 18
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The gate in the outer wall closes behind the train. A view from outside the fortifications.
- Capture 19
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The train sets off across the arid terrain. The shape of the hills behind suggests that this could be the line north of Nindhar Benar, viewed from one of the hills immediately to the east of the track.
- Capture 20
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Rebels start to advance on the fortifications. A view from the walls of the specially constructed fort.
- Capture 21
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Meanwhile, Captain Scott and his group are still cautiously making their way to the relative safety of Haserabad. Perhaps Jaipur, perhaps Amer.
- Capture 22
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The locals head for refuge within the walls of the fort. Amer Fort (also known as Amber Fort), Amer, Jaipur.
- Capture 23
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Opposite view from Amer Fort, looking east.
- Capture 24
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Crowds of people enter the square within the fort. A view southwest in Amer Fort.
- Capture 25
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Scott has reached relative safety, but finds that the last train has left.
- Capture 26
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The rebels attack the outer fortifications and scale the walls with ladders.
- Capture 27
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Scott needs to assemble a train, to escape to Kalapur. This is the former railway yard at Guadix, Andalusia, Spain. The railway yard is no more, but a circular feature visible on Google Earth at 37°19'16.19" N 3°07'42.92" W surely indicates where the turntable was. There's a distant glimpse of the Guadix railway yard, seen from the station, in 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'.
- Capture 28
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He finds that there is one ancient locomotive left in the yard. Its driver, Gupta (I.S. Johar) proudly shows Scott around the 'Empress of India'. Opposite view from the previous capture, with the Sierra de Baza mountains in the distance.
- Capture 29
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Pre-dawn the next day. The escape train prepares to slip away, crashing through the outer gate. A view west from the railway yard at Guadix.
- Capture 30
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The escape train has burst through the outer gate of the fortifications and accelerates away, pursued by the surprised rebels. This is back at the set in the Jaipur region.
- Capture 31
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After some exchange of fire with the rebels, the escape train sets off through the countryside. A hint of snow-capped mountains in the distance suggests we are on the (now dismantled) Guadix-Baza line in Andalusia. The line also features in 'A Fistful of Dynamite'.
- Capture 32
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Scott brings tea to the Indian soldier manning the Maxim. The Sierra Nevada mountain range in the background, with Picón de Jérez visible on the extreme left. We are in Spain, somewhere northeast of Guadix.
- Capture 33
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Scott and Gupta approaching a station. Seeing another train in the station, they become wary. The cab controls here identify this as the Indian locomotive; we are on the meter-gauge line from Jaipur.
- Capture 34
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The train stops short of the station and Scott and one of the Indian soldiers go ahead to check for danger.
- Capture 35
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The station building at 'Bhivandi Pura'. In reality, this is Nindhar Benar on the meter-gauge line that ran northwest from Jaipur to Reengus. That line has recently (1993 onwards) been converted to the standard Indian gauge of 5' 6", and in some places also re-routed.
- Capture 36
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They find that the refugee train didn't escape the rebels. Nindhar Benar station. The train is travelling south-east towards Jaipur.
- Capture 37
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The rescue train passes through a cutting. These distinctive sandstone formations are typical of those just outside Guadix on the now dismantled line to Baza.
- Capture 38
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Emerging from a tunnel, they find that a section of rail has been blown up. This is the Spanish locomotive, and the shape of the tunnel entrance here, and the surrounding landforms, seem to match a location near Fonelas on the Linares-Almeria line at 37°24'23.46" N 3°12'08.41" W.
- Capture 39
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A view from the surrounding hills, with the stranded train. Soon the rebels will notice it.
- Capture 40
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Under way again. The snow-capped mountains in the background are most likely the Sierra Nevada range in Spain.
- Capture 41
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Approaching another cutting.
- Capture 42
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As the station at Jamshara comes into view, they prepare to stop for water. IMDB identifies this as Zújar-Freila on the now dismantled line between Guadix and Baza in Andalucia, Spain. The station building itself has changed slightly at some time, being extended at both ends, but the buildings immediately to the east, the building to the south (now hidden behind a newer addition), and the hills to the north and the west, all match extremely well. The train is travelling east here.
- Capture 43
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The station is deserted. A view to the west.
- Capture 44
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They move on after refilling the locomotive's water tanks. The cab controls provide additional confirmation that this is the Spanish broad gauge locomotive.
- Capture 45
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They approach a viaduct. Anchurón Bridge on the Linares-Almería railway line, crossing the Fardes River and the road from Belerda to Fonelas.
- Capture 46
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The Anchurón viaduct from below. The bridge was refurbished in the 1970s, and the open lattice spans were replaced with box girder sections.
- Capture 47
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Unfortunately, the track is damaged here, as well. Ray Ellis's article (link in the header section) reported that "For filming sequences on the sound stage at Pinewood Studios, full size replicas of the locomotive, rolling stock and part of the bridge were constructed". Here's part of the bridge with a back-projection of the Fardes River.
- Capture 48
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Safely across the damaged track, the group continue across the bridge towards a tunnel.
- Capture 49
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Looking back from the train as the rebels mount another attack. The Sierra Nevada range behind, with Picón de Jérez now over to the right of the shot.
- Capture 50
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Distinctive rock formations in the background as the rebels draw closer.
- Capture 51
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Rebels fought off, the train emerges from another tunnel. This looks like a good match with the southern end of the tunnel about 2.5 miles west of Huélago at 37°24'29.35" N 3°12'53.91" W, only a short distance from the location of capture 38.
- Capture 52
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The group finally reach the safety of Kalapur. Iznalloz railway station in Andalusia, Spain.
- Capture 53
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They are greeted by the Staff Colonel (Ronald Cardew) and Prince Kishan's entourage.
- Capture 54
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Scott and Wyatt leave the station together.