'Jalsaghar'

Imagine 100 minutes of a series of performances of Hindustani song and dance cleverly disguised and presented as a film.

That's Jalsaghar. The plot (a somewhat wealthy landlord begins going broke after its realized his land is useless due to a river eroding the land ... however, he doesn't curtail spending, instead paying more for these performances) plays the same role that plot plays in a pornographic film.

It's a device to get to more sex. Or in Jalsaghar's case, music.

I love Indian music and culture, so this is a really good watch. Released in 1958, it's a precursor to the now popular Bollywood film, which is usually three hours of highly elaborate dance and music productions.

Although the Indian film trade wasn't dead in 1958 and had actually blossomed since the inception of the medium, Jalsaghar looks really, really bad.

The quality is actually on par with what American films looked like in 1930 or even in the 1920s. Why it's so bad is not apparent.