Gunga Din (1939)

In color this would be about the perfect film for my five year old nephew. Loosely adapted from the poem of the same name by Rupert Kipling, this is classic Hollywood adventure film making at its finest. It has everything, an exiting local, brave solders, creepy villains, elephants, ancient temples, and even the lovely Joan Fontaine (6th billed!). Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. are three British officers and best friends serving the Queens army in 19th Century India. This fun loving trio of good hearted troublemakers are a lot like 12 year old boys, and when one of their number (Fairbanks) starts thinking about leaving his friends behind to marry Fontaine and go into the tea business, well the other two don’t like it at all. McLaglen and Grant scheme to keep Fairbanks in the service, with Grant simultaneity on the constant lookout for treasure with his friend Gunga Din (Sam Jaffe). In pursing the latter goal the group winds up in the hands of a murder cult that worships the Blood Goddess Kali, and who by the way have some good points to make about Indian self determination. Anyway it’s a ‘rousing’ good time, and you can see why young Anglo boys were so taken by stories like this. Grade: A