Gunga Din (1939)
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92% of critics liked it
(25 reviews) -
74% of users liked it
(5,856 ratings)
Though Rudyard Kipling's poem Gunga Din makes a swell recital piece, it cannot be said to have much of a plot. It's simply a crude cockney soldier's tribute to a native Indian water boy who remains at his job even after being mortally wounded. Hardly the sort of material upon which to… More Though Rudyard Kipling's poem Gunga Din makes a swell recital piece, it cannot be said to have much of a plot. It's simply a crude cockney soldier's tribute to a native Indian water boy who remains at his job even after being mortally wounded. Hardly the sort of material upon which to build 118 minutes' worth of screen time-at least, it wasn't until RKO producer Pandro S. Berman decided to convert Gunga Din into an A-budgeted feature film. Now it became the tale of three eternally brawling British sergeants stationed in colonial India: Cutter (Cary Grant), McChesney (Victor McLaglen) and Ballantine (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.). Ballantine intends to break up the threesome by marrying lovely Emmy Stebbins (Joan Fontaine), while Cutter and McChesney begin hatching diabolical schemes to keep Ballantine in the army (if this plot element sounds a lot like something from the Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur play The Front Page, bear in mind that Hecht and McArthur shared writing credit on Gunga Din with Joel Sayre and Fred Guiol; also contributing to the screenplay, uncredited, was William Faulkner). All three sergeants are kept occupied with a native revolt fomented by the Thuggees, a fanatical religious cult headed by a Napoleonic Guru (Eduardo Ciannelli). Unexpectedly coming to the rescue of our three heroes-not to mention every white man, woman and child in the region-is humble water carrier Gunga Din (Sam Jaffe), who aspires to become the regimental trumpeter. Originally slated to be directed by Howard Hawks, Gunga Din was taken out of Hawks' hands when the director proved to be too slow during the filming of Bringing Up Baby. His replacement was George Stevens, who proved to be slower and more exacting than Hawks had ever been! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- George Stevens
- Written By
- Fred Guiol
- Genres
- Drama, Action & Adventure, Classics, Comedy
PG,
- In Theaters
- Feb 17, 1939 Wide
- Studio
- Turner Home Entertainment
Critic Reviews
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Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Stevens's deliberate pacing serves the comedy remarkably well, although the action scenes are blunted by too-careful compositions and artsy cutting.
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Tom Milne, Time Out
This is a pretty spiffing adventure yarn, with some classically staged fights, terrific performances.
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Wesley Lovell, Cinema Sight
An entertaining, if antiquated feature made all the better by the three well-appointed leads.
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John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis
This is grand and exhilarating filmmaking that's hard to resist. (TCM Greatest Classic Films: War)
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Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
One of the better adventure movies from the 1930s.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Cary Grant
as Archibald Cutter
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Victor McLaglen
as Sgt. MacChesney
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Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
as Sgt. Ballantine
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Sam Jaffe
as Gunga Din
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Eduardo Ciannelli
as Guru
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Joan Fontaine
as Emmy Stebbins
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Montagu Love
as Colonel
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Robert Coote
as Higginbotham
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Abner Biberman
as Chota
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Lumsden Hare
as Maj. Mitchell
- George Ducount
- Ann Evers
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Olin Francis
as Fulad
- Jamiel Hasson
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Cecil Kellaway
as Mr. Stebbins
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Frank Levya
as Native Merchant
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Fay McKenzie
as Girls at Party
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Lal Chand Mehra
as Jadoo
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Clive Morgan
as Lancer Captain
- David Niven
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George Regas
as Thug Chieftain
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Reginald Sheffield
as Journalist
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Roland Varno
as Lt. Markham
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Leslie Sketchley
as Corporal
- Audrey Manners
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Charles Bennett
as Telegraph Operator
- Jim Horne
