#CaryGrant #DouglasFairbanksJr #MovieReviews
Gunga Din was a 1939 action/adventure film. It basically tells the story of three friends serving together in colonial British India, along with their friend Gunga Din, an Indian water bearer. Set in India in the late 1800's, the plot revolves around a Brittish outpot being attacked by members of a mysterious and murderous Thugee cult.
So the core of the film is the friendship of the three friends, Cary Grant as Sergeant Archibald Cutter. Victor McLaglen as Sergeant MacChesney and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as Sergeant Thomas Ballantine.
The story is that these three guys are old friends, they fight together (both their enemies, and sometimes each other) they play jokes and tricks and laugh together and at one another. It's goofy but they make a likeable trio. Cary Grant especially is just over the top nutty here, and I love it.
Early in the film there's a big fight with him and several other officers. He's brought under correction, but since these are desperate times and they need everyone they can get, they send them off on a mission to investigate an outpot that was mysteriously wiped out.
So they gather together with some troops and go to investigate at what appears to be a deserted village. I actually love this scene because as they go investigating, one by one members of their party secretly get picked off. It's creepy and amazing.
Apparently it's members of the Thugee cult who are sneaking around and strangling their crew. cutter, MacChesney and Ballatine get into a big fight with several of the Thugees and overpower them. The cultists, however, appeal to Kali and tell them that their graves are already dug. Soon Thuygee reinforcements show up and there's a big gun fight. They manage to escape after a long battle including guns, sword fighting and even throwing dynamite, and the three end up making their escape with a dramatic dive into water far below. Great action stuff here.
So they return to their base camp and report in, and the film takes it slow a little. Cutter and MacChesney get their orders, but Ballatine won't be with them, as he's getting married to the lovely Emmy (played by Joan Fontaine).
At this point Cutter helps train Gunga Din, a cheerful Indian character played by Sam Jaffe, a very non-Indian guy who, amusingly, reminded me a lot of Dobby from Harry Potter (maybe it was the voice - maybe it's just me). Strangely enough, I remember him not as Gunga Din but rather as the mousy doctor character from the movie the Asphalt Jungle, one of my favorite crime noir films. He was the weird guy who while on the run, got held up watching teens dance at the cafe. Yeah.
Anyhow, Cutter teaches Gunga Din him how to be an officer, you know, how to salute and things like that, and meanwhile MacChesney tends to a sick elephant, and realizes that the elephant medicine is highly diaretic and could be used later for a prank.
Sure enough, that night Cutter and MacChesney head to a party and spike the drink there with elephant medicine. However, some commanding officers show up and show an interest in the punch, to MacChesney's alarm, and he hastily has to prevent them from drinking.
Cutter meets with Sergeant Higginbotham (actor Robert Coote) and leads him over to drink some punch and, well, hilarity ensues.
McLagen and MacChesney go and get Ballatine to return. He's looking for fabric patterns with his fiance, but he's brought back in to service, for a few more days at least.
Back in the field Cutter still thinks there's a hidden temple somewhere, according to Gunga Din. Machester doesn't want to hear it, and after Cutter takes a swing at him, because, you know, they're friends who regularly break out in fights, Cutter gets bopped and thrown in a jail cell. That night, though, Cutter concinvces Gunga Din to help him escape (with the help of an elephant) and after the elephant manages to destroy the wall of the cell, they both ride off on the back of an elephant.
They find their way to the hidden city and Cutter is thrilled. Once inside, they have to hide from Thugee cultists who have gathered to hear their leader speak. The cult leader Guru is played by Eduardo Ciannelli, one of those excellent old creepy actors. Cutter tells Gunga Din to run for help while he makes a stand there.
Anyhow, Machesney and Ballantine arrive at the temple and are captured. In the prison they find Cutter tied up, having been whipped, and soon they are being threatened by Guru to be tossed into a snake pit (very Indiana Jones here. More on that later). The three guys and Gunga Din make their escape, with Guru as hostage, and hide out on the roof of the temple, while on the ground, the Thugees continue to shoot at them. Will they make it? You need to watch and see...
7 сен 2024
