Customer Reviews

Gunga Din [VHS]

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Though some of it is unavoidably dated and a few scenes run too long (spiking Higgenbotham's drink, Annie the elephant's illness), this film is still the archetype of its genre. Everything else works, from the stirring score to the authenticity of the costumes and the precise period military maneuvers, to the writing and the casting. Gary Grant, Victor McLaughlin, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. are three drinking and fighting buddies, sargeants in the British Army in 18th-century India. Sam Jaffe is the lowly Indian water-bearer who wants nothing more than to be a soldier. Together they have assorted marvelous and daring adventures while battling the resurgent murder cult of Thuggee (a real cult from which the English word "thug" arises). Many years later the Thuggs will put in a return appearance in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom". All the principals do sterling work. The Cockney Grant (ne Archie Leach) gets to play a cockney soldier, with obvious gusto. Stealing the show for me is the wonderful Eduardo Giannelli as the Guru, or leader, of the Thuggs. Think Hannibal Lecter with a bunch of devoted followers. This is also the only film from its era that I can think of where the bad guy is obviously smarter and better educated than the good guys. To see and hear a dark-skinned Hindu villain, in an age when racism was still all-too prevalent in popular culture and India still a part of the British Empire, announce that "India is my country, and I can die for my country as readily as you for yours", is remarkable. No less so is the Guru's speech to the sargeants on what makes a "great general". At a guess, I'd give history buff, cynic, and screenwriter Ben Hecht credit for the guru's memorable lines. There's a cavalry charge in the grand final battle by "Bengal Lancers" that beats anything John Ford ever shot. Look for the old Indian officer leading the charge while whirling his sword over his head. No equestrian school teaches you how to ride a horse like that. The film was largely shot on location outside the small town of Lone Pine, California, near Mt. Whitney. I eagerly await the DVD that will include, presumably, George Steven's Jr.'s excellent documentary on his father, within which is contained 16mm home color shots of some of the enormously complex concluding battle scene.

Among Steven Spielberg's many great talents is that of a storyteller and so I must assume that this is among his favorite action films. So many of its elements (e.g. sarcasm in the face of death) are developed more extensively in the Indiana Jones trilogy. Three brawling sergeants are stationed together in colonial India at a time when Thuggee terrorists ("thugs") threaten to overthrow British rule. One sergeant soon plans to retire and reluctantly agrees to accompany the other two on one last mission to locate the troublemakers. They do so, barely escaping with their lives. The Thuggees are led by an exceptionally intelligent and erudite holy man (Edwardo Ciannelli) who is determined to destroy one empire, replacing it with one of his own. Sergeants MacChesney (Victor McLaglen), Cutter (Cary Grant), and Ballantine (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) are eventually captured and find themselves powerless to warn the approaching British troops of a brilliantly formulated ambush. And then....

It would be a disservice to those who have not as yet seen Gunga Din to say more about its plot. Suffice to say that, under George Stevens' direction, this is a great action film. Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur developed the story, using only the name of the subject of a poem by Rudyard Kipling. (William Faulkner was also among those who collaborated on the screenplay.) Played by Sam Jaffe, Gunga Din is introduced as a water boy (whom the sergeants befriend) but eventually displays exceptional heroism. After seeing the film again recently, I now think Grant's performance offers the best impersonation of him I have as yet observed. Also, unlike Grant who later developed his talents as an actor, McLaglen is essentially the same character as he is in subsequent films such as Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Rio Grande, and The Quiet Man. (He indicated so much promise as Gypo Nolan in The Informer four years earlier. What happened?) What we have here is a mini-spectacle in some respects, a "buddy film" in others, and at least an implicit affirmation of the need for colonial rule over "savages." But if I were to select one word to describe Gunga Din, it would be "romp." As such, if offers great entertainment.

The great thing about this movie is that it can be enjoyed on several levels. One can view it as an exciting adventure yarn, for instance. The amazing thing is that there is a story to tell at all. Anyone who has read Kipling's famous poem knows that it tells no real story at all, and the decision to ask hardnailed writers Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur to write an exotic colonial adventure story was an odd one. The two, however, succeeded, and the film is enlivened not only by a fun story, but the camaraderie between the three main characters, played by Grant, McLaglin, and the junior Fairbanks. Visually, the movie is always at least interesting, even though to any trained eye the scenery is pretty obviously in the mountains of California and not India. The film is also an interesting variant on films about colonialism, and while it was not in any sense an innovator in that regard, nonetheless tends to repeat most of the biases and stereotypes. The context is somewhat interesting, in that the Indian movement for independence, led by Gandhi, was reaching a crescendo at the moment, only to be delayed by WW II. It is interesting that what is essentially a film about a group attempting the independence of India, albeit in violent fashion, should receive so little sympathy, indicating how very, very out of touch Hollywood at the time was with international affairs.

The heart of the film is the cast, however. This was Cary Grant's first attempt at an adventure film after having emerged as perhaps the premier comic actor in Hollywood in the previous few years in films like THE AWFUL TRUTH, HOLIDAY, and the Topper films (BRINGING UP BABY, on the other hand, despite being a classic today, was considered a career killer at the time, actually causing Howard Hawks, the original director of GUNGA DIN, to be replaced by George Stevens, because BABY lost so much money, and causing Katherine Hepburn to leave Hollywood temporarily for the Broadway stage to revive her career, which she did by appearing in THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, which would reunite her with Cary Grant). Victor McLaglin, a former soldier, excels as Sgt. MacChesney, in a role that pretty much signaled the end of his career as a leading man and his transition to that of character actor. Douglas Fairbanks Jr., while he never achieved the success or fame of his father, was likable in a number of film roles, this one chief among them. And while Joan Fontaine does not have an especially prominent role in this film, it is interesting to see her just a year before becoming a star in REBECCA. Italian actor Eduardo Ciannelli was properly sinister (as he often was in film roles) as the high priest of Kali. But the film, to be successful, had to have a first rate performer in the title role, and in that Sam Jaffe succeeded magnificently. Hollywood never knew what to do with Sam Jaffe. Over the course of his career, he actually appeared in a surprisingly few number of films, most memorably in THE SCARLETT EMPRESS, LOST HORIZON (as the High Lama), and, in perhaps his finest role, THE ASPHALT JUNGLE. But his unusual features, which suited him admirably for certain roles, made him ineligible for many others. He was, a bit like comedian Bert Lahr, a major talent, but one not precisely suited for the kinds of films that Hollywood liked to turn out.

Trivia: Ben Hecht first became noted for writing what are essentially human-interest columns in the Chicago Tribune. His frequent writing partner and fellow Chicagoan Charles MacArthur was the husband of stage great Helen Hayes, adoptive father of actor James MacArthur (HAWAII FIVE-O) and brother of insurance and real estate mogul and, upon his death, philanthropist John T. MacArthur. Cary Grant plays Archibald Carter; Archibald was his actual first name (Archibald Leach). In 1940 Grant would play in a comedy updating of Hecht and MacArthur's classic THE FRONT PAGE, retitled HIS GIRL FRIDAY. Grant employs a small time hood on that one played by Abner Biberman, who plays the son of the high priest of Kali in GUNGA DIN. Two years after GUNGA DIN, Grant and Joan Fontaine would star in SUSPICION, which would net her an Oscar for Best Actress.

Ever since I first saw "Gunga Din" at the age of nine, it has been my most favorite film of all time. Even at that young age, in an era with films featuring far more sophisticated techniques and special effects, I was able to appreciate this venerable action/adventure gem which has only gotten better with age. It is one of those rare cinematic experiences that leaves me with a satisfied little grin every time I watch it.

Loosely based on the famous Rudyard Kipling poem, "Gunga Din" follows the exploits of a triumvirate of adventurous Royal Sappers in 19th century India. When a murderous cult of Thugees begin a mass uprising, Sergeant Cutter (Cary Grant) and his comrades (Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), accompanied by a humble Indian bhisti (Sam Jaffe), set out to stop the insurrection in its tracks.

"Gunga Din" is filled to the hilt with testosterone-laden action and adventure, suspense, and a perfect dose of jocund humor (I love the scene in which Victor McLaglen attempts to give his pet elephant, Annie, medicine!). The chemistry and camaraderie between Grant, McLaglen and Fairbanks is one of a kind. You truly get the sense of old friends sharing good-natured wisecracks and adventures together. Nothing is more amusing than when Grant and McLaglen become disgusted over Fairbank's decision to leave the army and marry his faience (Joan Fontaine). The sirene! Offsetting the more lighthearted moments of the film is a truly dark sequence in the Thugee temple, featuring a deliciously sinister performance by Eduardo Ciannelli as the Thugee guru. Alfred Newman's score is quite rousing, right up there with the best of John Williams (wish I could find the soundtrack). The climactic battle scene is truly spectacular, and many of the action sequences are more or less templates for future films of the genre. And, no matter how indurate you may be, it is hard not to shed a tear when the true hero of the story, the loyal Indian bhisti, Gunga Din, sacrifices his life to save his friends. This is what an action-packed, white-knuckled adventure is all about!

Though I've belted you and flayed you,

By the livin' Gawd that made you,

You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!

Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur seemed to have had a great time tossing off this adventure film about Kipling's water-boy, Gunga Din. With vaguely fond memories of Soldiers Three and Thugee and even My Lord the Elephant, they let themselves go and concocted a lively and two-thirds exciting action piece of celebrating, not too solemnly, some of Britains (of yore) with the natives of India Following thier own errant fancies, they have skipped lightly from melodrama to slapstick to sentiment to genuine thrills mingled with theatrical heroics, sticking to only one discernably resolute aim, to break conspicuously away form the conventional boy-and-girl theme: the girl (Joan Fontaine) is quite brutally abandoned by her fiance for the presumbably greater pleasure of life in Her of His Majesty's Service. George Stevens took this dazzling, irresponsible script and directed it for all it was worth and did a great job. Everybody concerned with putting GUNGA DIN on the screen did his technical best (including a remarkably good composer of the musical score), and to excellent effect. The bhisti, Gunga Din, appears only intermittently for all his title role, but he (the excellent and unique Sam Jaffe) has the final big moment. Eduardo Cianelli is excellent in a great example as the man you love to hate with Grant, McLaglen and Fairbanks doing commendable work in thier roles. If as a whole it can't be taken very seriously, it's because its author seemed to have been indulging in a little swing session on Kipling themes, improvising with more gusto than intention, with really nothing to say.

This is great classic! CARY GRANT and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (engaged to the lovely Joan Fontaine) play British soldiers in a regiment in India. Before long they find themselves mixed up with some Indian Thugs and a search for a golden treasure. While this movie portrays the Indians in a negative light (it was banned in India as British Imperialism propaganda), it is the original inspiration for many adventure movies such as "Indiana Jones" as well as "The Mummy." The story itself is inspired by a Rudyard Kipling poem. I would give it ten stars if I could. In black and white.

This 1939 favorite is a rousing, rip roaring, action/adventure buddy movie that takes place in India during the British Raj in what looks to be sometime during the latter part of the nineteenth century. There, the British run into a spot of trouble, as the notorious Thuggee cult that worshipped the goddess Kali and was ostensibly wiped out by the British years earlier seems to be enjoying a resurgence.

At one time, this ancient murderous cult of professional thieves numbered as many as ten thousand, and it members, called Thugs. At the height of their power, Thugs would kill approximately thirty thousand unsuspecting people a year, often innocent travelers on the road. Thugs had an interesting modus operandi, as they would kill their victims by garroting them with a weighted scarf, relieve them of their worldly possessions, and then quickly bury them in graves, so that the victims would appear to have vanished off the face of the earth. This killer cult flourished for centuries in India, until the British, with the cooperation of the existing Indian government of the time, decimated their ranks, making them a curious relic of India's colorful past.

So, when it becomes apparent that Thugs are once again on the rise, it is of utmost concern to British officers, especially as these Thugs seem to be destroying communications by cutting down the lines over which telegraph signals are transmitted. Meanwhile, in one British outpost, three military buddies, cut-up Sgt. Archibald Cutter (Cary Grant), blustery Sgt. 'Mac' McChesney (Victor McLaglen ), and dashing Sgt. Thomas Ballantine (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) are involved in a free wheeling brawl with others. This is the viewer's introduction to these three buddies, whose motto seems to be all for one, and one for all. They are the functional equivalent of the three musketeers in the army of the British Raj. They are also the one's selected to investigate the mysterious downing of the lines of communication. What they discover ends up in a rousing skirmish by a small band of Thugs.

When they return to their outpost, down but not out, they are going to be sent back out for further investigation, only this time it initially appears that Ballantine will not be going, as his enlistment is up and, much to the chagrin of his comrades, he is scheduled to marry a young, beautiful woman (Joan Fonataine). Of course, boys will be boys, and peer pressure wins out. So, Ballantine goes off with his buddies, ostensibly for one last time. Accompanying them and their men is the garrison's regimental water bearer or bhisti, Gunga Din (Sam Jaffe), a simple man who harbors a secret desire to be a soldier and bugler in the British army.

When Cutter and Gunga Din accidentally stumble upon the ancient golden temple of Kali and its Thug adherents, they discover that the Thugs are led by a charismatic, highly articulate and intelligent Guru (Eduardo Ciannelli). This Guru, angry at the decimation of the Thuggee cult, has gathered its remaining adherents in order to attack the British and drive them out of India. He is determined to oust the British Empire from India, so that his own may flourish as they did in the old days. In order to allow Gunga Din to go back for help, Cutter then does the unthinkable. This leads to a series of rousing events that are sure to keep the viewer riveted to the screen.

While the film is not an adaptation of Rudyard's Kipling's poem of the same name, the essence of the character Gunga Din, played by Sam Jaffe, is that of the character in Kipling's poem. In fact, Rudyard Kipling appears as a minor character at the end of the film and a few lines of that poem are read.

I loved this film as a child, and I still love it today. This is simply a marvelous film that, by the standards of today, may be a bit politically incorrect in parts, but remains, nonetheless, wholly entertaining.

The role of Cutter, which is essentially a comedic role, was originally to be played by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and the role of the dashing Ballantine was to be played by Cary Grant. When Grant read the script, he insisted on playing Cutter or he would not play anyone at all. Of course, as Grant was then in top form as a box office star, his wish was granted, and he does not disappoint. He is positively marvelous as the cheeky Cutter. The role of Ballantine is well-served by the debonair and handsome Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Victor McLaglen is excellent in the role of the blustery, slightly misogynistic McChesney. This trio of comrades and their adventures will keep the viewer riveted to the screen.

Of course, Sam Jaffe is terrific as Gunga Din. By the time the end of the film rolls around, one can understand the line in Kipling's poem, "Gunga Din" that pretty much sums up the character in the film, "You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!" As touching a performance as Sam Jaffe gives, however, there is one performance that stands out above all others in the film. Given the cast in this film, it is high praise, indeed! That singular recognition goes to the Italian born, veteran actor, Eduardo Ciannelli. Known mostly for the gangster roles that he played, Ciannelli outdid himself with his hypnotic and compelling performance as the fanatical Guru. His is the standout performance in a film riddled with excellent ones.

To my surprise, the film was shot on location in Lone Pine, California, although, while watching it, I would have sworn that it had been shot in the Northwest Frontier of India, somewhere along the Khyber Pass. George Stevens did a great job of directing this film and making it a favorite of many film buffs. This is a film worthy of a place in one's personal film collection. Bravo!

This is perhaps the greatest adventure film ever made--confirmed by AFI"s list ,Ebert. and on. Does ANYONE know why this is out of print?? And its been out of print now in VHS and DVD for years ?? How could this be ?? Seriously ,does anyone know why this has disappeared ??

GUNGA DIN, the movie which I watched the other night wasn't anything comparable to the Gunga Din movie that I watched with fierce glee as a ten year old in 1939. That's why I think this is a five star movie. But, what does a ten year old know? I couldn't have guessed that British India was going to go the way of the Bengal Lancers. I couldn't have guessed that folks would begin to complain that movies did not, " . . . follow the book!" Worse, I couldn't have guessed that Miss Gillerman was going to read the Gunga Din poem to her 6th grade class the following year. I had seen the best rock 'em, sock 'em, smack 'em, beat 'em-up movie of my life as heroes Grant, McLaglen and Fairbanks swaggered about the screen cleaning the clocks of adversaries who outnumbered them 20 to 1. Miss Gillerman--darn her! I learned from her that Gunga Din was a great work of poetry with a super message. You'll find little of the poem in the movie, while the message is lost in the glamour of action-adventure. The poem sells right here on Amazon under the title of "Gunga Din and Other Favorite Poems [Dover Thrift Editions] by Rudyard Kipling. It is worth reading in context with the glorious and victorious context of this movie.