Review of Gunga Din (1939) by Sean F — 04 Sep 2004

The biggest problem with George Stevens' "Gunga Din" is it's not about Gunga Din. Sure, at various points throughout the film we get a little comedy relief from Din (Sam Jaffe, at a time when it was still difficult to find a black man playing a black man who wasn't intended to be a bug-eyed goof), and finally he is set up to be the hero of the movie in the final reel - a development better than that which Rudyard Kipling gave him - but the movie could operate just as well without him.

"Gunga Din" doesn't need Gunga Din. The problem in the first place is the source material. Kipling's poem isn't bad at all, it's just not a movie. The audience is going to feel very little compassion for an unimportant water carrier who gets shot in battle while doing his job.

So the filmmakers made Din the savior of the British Army at Kyber Pass. But the movie up to that point isn't about him. Three misfits (Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) in the British army are sent to investigate a Thuggee uprising, and wackiness ensues.

They hardly go anywhere without getting into a fight; two of the men go to great pains to ensure their friend doesn't get married and leave them; a punch bowl is spiked with a laxative. Through a series of wildly improbable events, they find themselves trapped with the Thuggee leader while 10,000 Thuggees fire upon them.

There's no reason why this in and of itself couldn't make a fine action/adventure flic. But suddenly were asked to feel for a character who really didn't make much of a mark to begin with.

If you're going to make a movie called "Gunga Din", give the audience some information about Gunga Din. How did he get his job with the army? Why does he feel so loyal to the British that he sacrifices himself for what really wasn't much of a cause? Surely this guy has a story.

It's a shame we didn't see it. It's also unfair to the three men we do follow on the journey. Every one of them, however heroic, is undermined by the script's glorification of Din. The movie does contain some exciting sequences, and everyone delivers a fine performance.

But the execution of the material told us the wrong story.