GUNGA DIN Movie Review
1939 George Stevens
George Stevens's adaptation of a short Rudyard Kipling poem is one of Hollywood's great comic adventures. It's a completely frivolous work, so lacking in substance that its inherent paternalistic racism is rendered mostly harmless. In these more sensitive times, some will take offense at the very idea of white actors in “brown-face” playing Indian characters, but that kind of criticism should be reserved for films that are trying to say something. This one is trying simply to entertain.
Writers Ben Hecht, Fred Guiol, Joel Sayre, and Charles MacArthur took a standard Western plot and moved it from the prairie to the subcontinent. (All right, most of the exteriors were filmed in the California Sierra Nevadas, but those sure look like Indian mountains.) They turned the U.S. Cavalry into the British Army and exchanged Apaches for Thuggees (worshipers of the goddess Kali, who … oh, never mind).
The immediate problem facing Sgt. Cutter (Cary Grant) and Sgt. McChesney (Victor McLaglen) is that their pal Sgt. Ballantine (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) is about to leave the Army and marry his sweetheart Emmy Stebbins (an underused Joan Fontaine). They want him to stay and help them in barroom brawls and boozing and all the other fun stuff that guys do in movies like this. Of course, there's also the little matter of a rebellion against British colonization being led by Guru (Eduardo Ciannelli), but that shouldn't present much of a problem for three such splendid chaps. And they certainly are splendid in their tailored uniforms, shiny boots, pencilthin mustaches, and natty pith helmets. It's no wonder that Gunga Din (Sam Jaffe), a regimental waterboy, wants to join up and be a soldier just like them. When he tells Sgt. Cutter that he knows where to find a golden temple, a few Thuggees aren't going to stop him. From the midpoint on, the film charges on to a conclusion that's 24-karat Hollywood hokum. Throughout, the sets and locations have an exotic look that's somehow enhanced by excellent black-and-white cinematography from Joseph H. August.
Taken at the schoolboy level it's aiming for, this is derring-do that's daringly done. It's like a summer camp where they let you play with real guns. The violence is almost tongue-in-cheek, and the broader comic moments—particularly the punch bowl scene—are really funny. After all, producer-director Stevens got his start directing Laurel and Hardy short films, and he brings their chaotic irreverence to this crowd-pleaser.
Gunga Din received only one Academy Award nomination, and in another year, that would be unusual for such a finely crafted, big-budget picture. But in 1939, the competition was fierce. It was up against Gone with the Wind, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Wizard of Oz, Stagecoach, Wuthering Heights, and several others.
Cast: Cary Grant (Sgt. Archibald Cutter), Victor McLaglen (Sgt. McChesney), Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (Sgt. Ballantine), Sam Jaffe (Gunga Din), Eduardo Ciannelli (Guru), Montagu Love (Colonel), Joan Fontaine (Emmy Stebbins), Abner Biberman (Chota), Robert Coote (Higginbotham), Lumsden Hare (Maj. Mitchell), Cecil Kellaway (Mr. Stebbins), Roland Varno (Lt. Markham), George Regas (Thug Chieftain), Reginald Sheffield (Journalist), Clive Morgan (Lancer Captain); Written by: Fred Guiol, Joel Sayre, Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur; Cinematography by: Joseph August; Music by: Alfred Newman. Producer: Pandro S. Berman, George Stevens, RKO. Awards: Nominations: Academy Awards '39: Best Black and White Cinematography. Boxoffice: 1.91M. Running Time: 117 minutes. Format: VHS, Beta, LV.