This is an excellent TV film which actually appears to have been made on location in India itself. Despite its incredible length of exactly 3 hours and 50 minutes, the spectator is not bored for one instant - now how many films outside Titanic and Gone With the Wind can do that -the answer is hardly any. I bought it a few years ago in the UK on DVD and although the presentation is basic without boni or special features, the picture quality is quite satisfactory though with occasional ghosting in some scenes.
The film includes several well known actors including the "forever-beautiful-whatever-her-age" Claire Bloom. I had already noticed her in Charlie Chaplin's Limelight and Anton de Grunwald's Innocents in Paris but in Queenie she is even more beautiful. In addition, she has a very good Indian accent as well as darkened skin - difficult to remember she's actually white.
I am not going to relate the whole story as it is far too long but the spectator follows with interest Queenie's childhood in the slums of Calcutta, then travelling to UK with her uncle, finding work and rising up in life whilst her uncle comes to a sticky end through drink, and always with the interior fear that the death of a British governor in India will be pinned on her although in fact it was an accident.
Apparently, the film is supposed to be the biography of someone called Merle Oberon. I had never heard of this person and never seen her in films so I cannot comment on this. The colonial atmosphere in India is very well rendered, and I have a tendency to confuse parts of this film with David Lean's Passage to India ! This is a very entertaining film to be watched on a cold and wet winter Sunday afternoon. It is a series of trials and tribulations which the spectator follows with eagerness. Highly recommendable if you can get your hands on it whatever country you live. It is often shown on French TV under the title " Queenie, La Force d'Un Destin".
The film includes several well known actors including the "forever-beautiful-whatever-her-age" Claire Bloom. I had already noticed her in Charlie Chaplin's Limelight and Anton de Grunwald's Innocents in Paris but in Queenie she is even more beautiful. In addition, she has a very good Indian accent as well as darkened skin - difficult to remember she's actually white.
I am not going to relate the whole story as it is far too long but the spectator follows with interest Queenie's childhood in the slums of Calcutta, then travelling to UK with her uncle, finding work and rising up in life whilst her uncle comes to a sticky end through drink, and always with the interior fear that the death of a British governor in India will be pinned on her although in fact it was an accident.
Apparently, the film is supposed to be the biography of someone called Merle Oberon. I had never heard of this person and never seen her in films so I cannot comment on this. The colonial atmosphere in India is very well rendered, and I have a tendency to confuse parts of this film with David Lean's Passage to India ! This is a very entertaining film to be watched on a cold and wet winter Sunday afternoon. It is a series of trials and tribulations which the spectator follows with eagerness. Highly recommendable if you can get your hands on it whatever country you live. It is often shown on French TV under the title " Queenie, La Force d'Un Destin".