Customer Reviews

Kim

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm a pushover for Errol Flynn. However, I was surprised in this movie he has a semi-starring roll. The story is Kim, the boy.Flynn plays a part but not the bravado star swinging from limbs altho he is a ladies man. I also have KIM with Pete O'Toole. Frankly, I thought O'Toole overplayed his hand in that version. I much prefer Paul Lukas as the worn out priest. Great scenery. Great fun for the whole family. Stories like this never grow old and the India setting well...Let's hope they put this movie on DVD in the near future.

Kim is a movie I remember so well as a kid infact probably my favourite chidhood movie. I found myself one evening searching Amazon's massive dvd vault and for some reason I typed in 'KIM' and I was delighted to see it had been released on dvd. Sometimes revisiting a childhood favourite can be dissapointing as an adult, but not Kim the story is so imaginitive it grips from start to finish. The acting of a young Dean Stockwell as a streetwise street urchin blagging his way through life and finding himself embroiled in espionage reminds me in character of Errol Flynn at his cheekiest. Ironically Flynn co stars as 'Kim's protector Red Beard. Both actors work together so well they draw you into the story set in India during the Raj. Kim was My favourite childhood movie and I'm glad I found it again. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

This will be a "mixed" review. This is a gorgeous film to look at--on-location shooting in India greatly enhances the visual appeal, and the sets and colourful costumes are eye-catching to say the least. The plot, based on Kipling's classic book, concerns a young British, orphaned boy, who disguises himself as an Indian to avoid school and indulge in some espionage for the British, via a shady horse-trader. It takes place during the Victorian period.

The boy--Kim--is played by a very young Dean Stockwell, and his performance is excellent. The horse trader is portrayed by Errol Flynn--older and heavier than during his peak, swashbuckling years at Warner Brothers. While Flynn is top-billed, do not be mislead--this film is about the boy--at the same time, Flynn has lost little of the charm and roguish twinkle that made him such a big star.

What this film needed, however, was more action--beautiful scenery and costumes cannot disguise the fact that this film has too many dull patches.

The DVD is decent--full-screen--nice colour--mono sound, of course.

"Kim" has its moments--but if you see the name of Errol Flynn on the cover, and expect plenty of exciting action, you may be disappointed.

I can't understand how anyone could fail to appreciate and enjoy this movie. The delightfully impish Dean Stockwell, the ever-dashing Errol Flynn and Paul Lukas as the venerable Buddhist monk are all very good in their roles. I agree (for once) with Leonard Maltin's evaluation, as far as it goes, when he describes this movie as a «rousing actioner» and rates it a «flavorful production» worth four and a half stars. Beyond that, however, the story itself, by no less than Rudyard Kipling, is quite inspiring, with a lot of wit and a lot of ancient wisdom mixed in with great action.

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...nevertheless as good on DVD as I remember it on the big screen when I was a youngster. During the '50s and '60s, when it played on commercial television, the idiot box artists chopped this film without mercy or sense, squeezing out of it almost all the flavor, and it's great to see *Kim* - admittedly a bit murky on the visual side, a bit twiddled and diddled in the sound department - back in its theatrical version, and in a form that allows for easy replay and scene selection.

Despite the relatively minor role played by the "real" Mahbub Ali in Kipling's book, the script's structuring took advantage of Errol Flynn's mature screen presence (as an actor, he most certainly got better as he grew older) to good effect, and did the job without doing any real violence to Kipling's story. Dean Stockwell's work is only so-so compared with what he *could* produce under proper direction, and while Paul Lukas is as good in this role as you'd expect him to be, I still have more than a bit of trouble thinking of him as a Tibetan lama.

By the bye, could someone please tell us the name of the tune being played as the Mavericks ("a red bull on a green field") come marching into frame about midway through the movie? It's the same tune playing at the close of film, and I'm driving myself *nuts* trying to remember what the damned thing is called. Thanks.
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Kim based on Rudyard Kipling's adventure book about the young British boy Kim who has lost both his parents and survives in India through theft, begging, and being a messenger. Kim avoids the British as he has heard that they send their boys to school, but when his identity is revealed he struggles against the system after he is sent to school. In addition, a holy man who has made a strong impression on Kim encourages him to stay in school in order to help him seek enlightenment. Simultaneously, there is a war brewing in northern India and Kim seems to play large part in the outcome of this possible bloodshed. Kim is an interesting film shot in India that teaches some valuable lessons in regards to education and belonging. Despite having some scenes that seem too staged and stiff, which causes some awkwardness in the story, the film leaves the audience with a good cinematic experience.

Errol Flynn may have top billing in this epic adventure drama, based on a book by Rudyard Kipling, but his is only a secondary role.

Dean Stockwell is the central character in the story of a young British orphan who, in order to avoid going to school, pretends to be a street urchin in Colonial India. His protector is Red Beard (Flynn), a horse trader who is also a key operative in British espionage activities against rebel forces that are being backed by the Russians.

Also in the cast of the Victor Saville directed film is Paul Lukas, playing a holy man who Stockwell comes to revere, and Robert Douglas as the head of the British Secret Service.

There's plenty of action and, though his role is somewhat brief, Flynn is, thankfully, Flynn.

© Michael B. Druxman

This film hasn't lost any of it's adventure,style or humor for me since I first watched it 20 years ago. Hollywood managed to capture Kipling's view of a beautiful country & a proud people.Our children have enjoyed it as much as I did when I first saw it.

Twelve years after "The Adventures of Robin Hood," former Warner Bros. swashbuckling sensation Errol Flynn showed us he could still handle a sword in this rousing adventure, based on a Rudyard Kipling story. This engrossing yarn benefits from rich period atmosphere, vibrant color photography, and the star charisma emanating from both Flynn and the talented young Stockwell.

A great tale of loyalty and spies. With renewed interest in the region where this film takes place it is interesting to see that not much has changed. Being a Rudyard Kipling story it plays better than a made for entertainment film of the time.

I was surprised to find that Kim is Dean Stockwell before the bushy hair. Paul Lukas is exceptional as always. It takes a little time to realize that Errol Flynn is "Mahbub Ali" and not "MahbubAli". I actually ran across someone with the name. I also was intrigued in the hypnoses sense.

Kim an English kid in the 1880's helps a holy man to go on a pilgrimage and does a little spying on the side for an Afghan horse trader.