North West Frontier 1959

Set in 1905 on the North West Frontier of British India, a Hindu Maharajah entrusts his young son, Prince Kishan Govind Raja Ross, to the care of British Army Captain Scott Kenneth More and his escort to the Governor’s residence in Haserabad, as a Muslim uprising tightens its grip on the province. Accompanying them is the prince’s governess, an American widow named Mrs. Wyatt Lauren Bacall, and the mission is urgent: get the boy to safety before the rebellion closes in. In the tense hours that follow, the palace is overrun, the prince’s father is killed, and the journey toward safety becomes a perilous test of nerve and loyalty for everyone involved.

Upon their arrival in Haserabad, Captain Scott sees that a last train is evacuating locals and Europeans to Kalapur, while the Muslim rebels close in on the outer wall and gate beside the railway yard. The British governor directs Scott to move the child to Kalapur for safety, and in the yard an old engine—the Empress of India—sits with its driver Gupta [I.S. Johar], a steadfast figure who will become crucial to their escape. Early the next morning, the passengers are quietly loaded aboard the Empress, along with a diverse group: the enigmatic British expatriate Mr. Bridie [Wilfrid Hyde-White], the Governor’s wife Lady Wyndham [Ursula Jeans], two British Indian Army NCOs, and a man named Peter van Leyden [Herbert Lom], a Dutch-born journalist whose true loyalties and backstory will complicate the voyage. In truth, van Leyden is revealed to be a half-Dutch, half-Indonesian Muslim with ambitions for an Islamic India, a detail that becomes pivotal as events unfold.

The Empress begins to move, Gupta ensures the old machine is coaxed toward life, and the train slips free from the yard. Its whistle unexpectedly sounds an alarm, drawing the rebels close, and Gupta is forced to drive the engine through the gate to keep the train from being trapped. Not long after, the convoy encounters a refugee train that has been massacred by the rebels, a grim reminder of the danger that lies ahead. Against orders, Mrs. Wyatt steps off the Empress in a bid to help, and she discovers a lone infant cradled beneath his mother’s body—a moment that underscores the stakes of their mission and the tenderness with which she approaches her duty.

As the journey continues, the morning brings a new obstacle: a section of track has been blown up and the train must pause. From a nearby vantage point, signaling flashes atop a mountain summit reveal that the rebels are waiting in the surrounding hills. Repairs are completed just in time, and the train presses forward under a withering hail of rebel gunfire, Gupta receiving a wound but surviving to help steer the improvised journey toward safety. Later, in the pump house, Captain Scott discovers Van Leyden allowing Prince Kishan to stand perilously close to the pump’s rapidly spinning flywheel, a moment that raises tense questions about the man’s intentions. At night, Van Leyden makes another move toward the prince, observed by Lady Wyndham, further fueling Scott’s suspicions.

The train reaches a bomb-damaged viaduct, where the passengers must cross a weakened section of track to ease the weight distribution for the rest of the train. Once again, Van Leyden’s reckless behavior nearly costs Kishan his life, and Captain Scott places the reporter under arrest. With Gupta’s steady guidance, the engine is carefully negotiated across the shattered bridge, a feat of nerve and teamwork that tests everyone aboard. Later, inside a tunnel, Van Leyden uses a Maxim machine gun to restrain the passengers, declaring his loyalty to the Muslim cause. He cannot kill Kishan at that moment because the boy remains in the locomotive’s cab with Scott, but his menace becomes undeniable.

Scott returns to the carriage with Kishan, while more rebel heliograph signals glow from mountain peaks. The pursuit grows more dangerous as Van Leyden’s plan to seize the boy intensifies. A dramatic showdown on the train’s roof ensues when Van Leyden is knocked off balance by a kick from Mr. Bridie, sending him skittering toward a fatal fall. Scott gives chase onto the carriage roof, only to be saved by Mrs. Wyatt, who shoots Van Leyden just as he attempts to kill Scott. The escape is far from over, however, as the Muslim rebels close in on the train on horseback. The Empress cleverly enters a two-mile-long hillside tunnel, buying precious moments of safety before the other side reveals the world beyond.

Emerging into Kalapur, the passengers at last glimpse safety. Kishan is welcomed by his Hindu entourage at the station, Gupta is taken to hospital to recover from his wounds, and Lady Wyndham learns that her husband, the governor, is safe. The story closes on a quiet but resolute note: Captain Scott reflects on the possibilities of Kishan one day fighting alongside the British, quoting Rudyard Kipling as he and Mrs. Wyatt depart together, their bond strengthened by the trials they endured.

Be thankful you’re livin’, and trust to your luck, And march to your front like a soldier.