Nine Hours to Rama (1963)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Mark Robson

Writers:

Nelson Gidding (writer)
Stanley Wolpert (book)

Release Date:

30 April 1963 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama | History

Tagline:

the murder that changed the lives of millions!

Plot:

"Nine hours to Rama" depicts the life of Nathuram Godse the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi. How Godse planned the assassination is shown in the film...

Plot Keywords:

Assassination | Assassin | Mahatma Gandhi | Indian History | Based On Book

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Horst Buchholz	...	Naturam Godse
José Ferrer	...	Supt. Gopal Das
Valerie Gearon	...	Rani Mehta
Don Borisenko	...	Naryan Apte
Robert Morley	...	P.K. Mussadi
Diane Baker	...	Sheila
Harry Andrews	...	Gen. Singh
Jairaj	...	G.D. Birla
David Abraham	...	Det. Munda
Achala Sachdev	...	Mother
Marne Maitland	...	Karnick
Harold Goldblatt	...	Selvrag Prahlad
Wolfe Morris	...	Det. Bose
Francis Matthews	...	Rampure
Nagendra Nath	...	Magin Mehta

Also Known As:

Nine Hours to Live (USA) (alternative title)

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:A | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:12

Company:

Red Lion

Trivia:

According to Richard Attenborough This film was one of major reasons why his Gandhi had major problems with the Indian Goverment for many years.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Bass on Titles (1977)

Exotic locations for assassination tale of Ghandi's death...

So little is heard of this film these days, that it has almost slipped into obscurity. And that's a shame. It has a fascinating story at the core--but the drawback seems to be a series of flashbacks that could have been edited to omit too much emphasis on the love interest between the assassin (HORST BUCHHOLZ) and VALERIE GEARON.

The flashbacks explaining the youth of the future assassin are interesting enough and there's a lot of local color in the splendid Indian backgrounds to give the story an authentic feel. But the romance takes up too much time that cuts into the suspenseful angle of a tale that lacks the taut excitement generated by that other famous assassination attempt depicted in THE DAY OF THE JACKAL.

Jose Ferrer and Robert Morley are the only other notables in the cast, with the exception of DIANE BAKER (whom I almost didn't recognize as the dark-skinned Indian girl that shares an intense scene with Buchholz in which she gets slapped around pretty badly).

Two hours of running time is a bit of a stretch for this tale, which is still absorbing enough to watch under Mark Robson's forceful direction. HORST BUCHHOLZ carries the film with a very intense performance that gives the film almost all of its edge.

For an even more exemplary example of this type of film, I highly recommend THE DAY OF THE JACKAL for tighter suspense.