India Speaks (1933)

Anecdotes

India Speaks is a 1933 American Pre-Code adventure film, combining elements of documentaries and travelogue programs, mostly taking place on the Indian sub-continent along with staged bits spliced in to aid story flow. Produced by Walter Futter from a screenplay by Norman Houston, the film was directed, narrated and starring Richard Halliburton. A sequel to the popular film Africa Speaks!.

Production

In 1932, United Artists reached an agreement with the producer, Walter Futter, to produce a dramatized version of a travelogue of the travels of the well-known adventurer, Richard Halliburton. In March 1933, the distribution rights were transferred to RKO Radio Pictures. The working title of this film was Jade, but was changed to India Speaks in January 1931.

The cinematographers, Peverell Marley, Robert Connell, and H. T. Cowling, spent several months in India and southeast Asia, taking footage used in the film. While many industry sources of the period claimed that Halliburton had overseen the photography in Asia, in a personal appearance at Radio City Music Hall, admitted that he had not been in Asia while the footage was being shot.

The film's release was delayed when Futter developed a case of pneumonia. Controversy arose after the film was released, with one of the cameramen, Herford Tynes Cowling (H.T. Cowling), claiming to be the producer of the film, and that his footage was being misused. He filed a grievance with the Federal Trade Commission to bar the film from being shown, but no record exists that the grievance was successful.

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