Gunga Din (1939) - film review

The Northwest Frontier of India, 1880.  When contact is lost with a colonial outpost at Tandipur, three sergeants in the British Army are sent to investigate.  These are MacChesney, Cutter and Ballantine, accompanied by their faithful water-bearer Gunga Din, who dreams of becoming a British soldier.  When they arrive, Tandipur is deserted, or so to think.  Whilst repairing the damaged telegraph, the party is attacked by Indian rebels who turn out to be members of a murderous sect, the Thuggee.  When Cutter learns of a golden temple, he sets out to look for it. not knowing that this is the meeting place of the Thugs...

One of the great Hollywood blockbuster adventure films of the 1930s, Gunga Din is particularly enjoyable on account of its uninhibited sense of fun and spectacular action sequences.   Inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s poem about a water-bearer and his novel Soldiers Three, the film is somewhat dated by its pro-colonialist, slightly racist viewpoint, although this doesn’t prevent it from being a thunderingly enjoyable divertissement and a solid template for future action films.  

Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. make a wonderful comedy trio, with Grant giving most entertainment value with his outrageous cockney accent.  It is regrettable that the title character was played not by an Indian (as was originally planned) but by a heavily made up American actor, Sam Jaffe, although the latter does succeed in bringing pathos and charm to his portrayal.

Locations in California (the Sierra Nevada range and Alabama Hills) provide a convincing stand in for India’s Khyber Pass, giving the film its scale and exotic quality.  George Stevens directs the film with boyish enthusiasm and some of the film’s most outlandish action sequences have been aped in many subsequent films, including, notably, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).

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