Gunga Din (1939)
- Starring:
- Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, (more)
- Director(s):
- George Stevens
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- NR
- Format(s):
- DVD
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Synopsis of Gunga Din
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
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 117 mins
Complete Cast of Gunga Din
- Cary Grant - Archibald Cutter
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. - Sgt. Ballantine
- Eduardo Ciannelli - Guru
- Montagu Love - Colonel
- Abner Biberman - Chota
- Reginald Sheffield - Journalist
- Charles Bennett - Telegraph Operator
- Clive Morgan - Lancer Captain
- Olin Francis - Fulad
- George Regas - Thug Chieftain
- Roland Varno - Lt. Markham
- Victor McLaglen - Sgt. MacChesney
- Sam Jaffe - Gunga Din
- Joan Fontaine - Emmy Stebbins
- Robert Coote - Higginbotham
- Lumsden Hare - Maj. Mitchell
- Fay McKenzie - Girls at Party
- Frank Levya - Native Merchant
- Leslie Sketchley - Corporal
- Lal Chand Mehra - Jadoo
- Cecil Kellaway - Mr. Stebbins
- Director(s):
- George Stevens
- Writer(s):
- William Faulkner, Fred Guiol, Joel Sayre
- Producer(s):
- George Stevens, Pandro S. Berman
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- NR(Mild Violence, War Violence)
- Categories:
- Action / Adventure
- 1999 - Library of Congress - U.S. National Film Registry
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BY MAIL
