This is the action adventure movie to end all action adventure movies.
Gunga Din was released in 1939, Hollywood's golden year in which so many other great movies like Beau Geste, The Four Feathers, Gone With The Wind, The Wizard of Oz, and Stagecoach were first seen by the public.
Gunga Din is loosely based on Rudyard Kipling's poem about the Indian bhisti (water carrier) who wanted to become a British soldier. The screenplay, an absolute gem, was put together by a trio of writers, including Ben Hecht, William Faulkner, and Charles MacArthur.
Director George Stevens found the perfect specimen in Sam Jaffe to play Gunga Din. He similarly found the best possible combination of actors to play the three sergeants, who carry the main story, in Cary Grant (Sgt. Cutter), Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (Sgt. Ballantine), and Victor MacLaglen (Sgt. MacChesney). The three sergeants are involved in more hijinks than a company of regular soldiers. Their antics contribute a large part of the fun that this fine film delivers.
A continuing theme of the screenplay is Ballantine's upcoming discharge, upon which he will marry the girl of his dreams and go into the tea business. MacChesney, on the other hand, is just as determined to get Ballantine to reenlist for another nine-year hitch. Their continual maneuvering around this subplot adds comic relief and highlights the dangers the three heroes (and Din) are constantly facing.
But Gung Din offers much more than comedy; it is a first rate adventure, with the three sergeants leading the fight against the Thugee uprising. The Thugees were a band of stranglers who terrorized the countryside and had to be put down forcibly.
Sgt. Archibald Cutter is continually buying maps and looking for buried treasure. Din wants to become a soldier, so he tells Cutter he knows where a solid gold temple is. To prevent Cutter from leaving MacChesney locks him drunk in the guardhouse. Din uses an elephant to tear down the guardhouse and escape with Cutter. It just so happens that the golden temple is real but it is also the headquarters of the Thugee cult and the two heroes walk right into the middle of a religious ceremony. Cutter makes a diversion to allow Din's escape and he runs back for help. MacChesney, Din, and Ballantine come to the rescue and the whole regiment is following a few hours behind. The capture of the four heroes sets the stage for Din's heroic scene.
As the Thugees lie in ambush all around the temple, Din sounds the alarm on his trumpet, thus warning the oncoming British who take cover and destroy the Thugee attackers.
Photography by Joseph August was absolutely breathtaking with the wild mountainous Indian countryside and the Indian interiors. Score was by Alfred Newman and is well suited to the action, thereby making it a seamless entertainment package. Acting, besides the four main characters include some sterling British actors as the Regimental officers, and Robert Coote, as Higginbottham, Ballantine's replacement. The Thugee leaders were also well portrayed by lesser-known actors.
Gunga Din is a movie the whole family will enjoy, there is slapstick and adventure aplenty and younger viewers may be amazed at the fact that actors could put on a show before the age of special effects.
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