An impossible task in 1950

EM Forster said that the theme of his A Passage to India is the impossibility of Europeans ever coming to terms with, let alone understanding, the sub-continent’.

I think the same could be said for all the Joseph Conrad stories— except he was talking about Malaya and the Dutch East Indies rather than the sub-continent.

And I think Carol Reed attempted the impossible when he set out with inadequate cameras and an incomplete cast to start filming in the Dutch East Indies. He had to venture out again with a larger crew and better cameras to do more filming in Ceylon. Then he was able to shoot different cast members in a comfortable English studio and then cobble together the ludicrously-inconsistently-photographed salvaged footage.