Gunga Din 1939

    This film is loosely based on the poem by Rudyard Kipling.  The time period is during the Thuggee uprising in British India.  Three sergeants are very good together as a team until one of them decides to get married and leave the service.  The other two convince him into going on a final mission.  What they don’t know is that the British Army is entering a trap and they will need to confront an entire uprising by themselves.  Gunga Din was born in India but he works as a water carrier, he dreams of being a soldier and he fights along side the British.  The name Gunga is Hindu for the Ganges River and Din is Arabic for faith.

     The three lead characters are somewhat like the three musketeers but the setting is in India for the story.  Filmed by RKO Studio and this company was in the film business from 1929 until 1959.  Annie the elephant should be listed as one of the characters!!  She is a good actress!!  3* (This movie is OK)

117 min, Adventure directed by George Stevens with Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Sam Jaffee, Eduardo Ciannelli, Montagu Love, Robert Coote, Abner Biberman, Lumsden Hare.

Note: Imdb 7.5 out of 10, 92% critic 74% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 280 reviews, TCM Leonard Maltin 4* out of 4*, user ratings & review 4.66 out of 5.

Special Note:  Filmed in Lone Pine, Death Valley, Mt. Whitney, Los Angeles, California.  Why go on location when you can have a substitute for India in California?  This was one of the first movies to be given ‘colorization’ in the 1980’s.