Today I watched the old movie \u201cGunga Din\u201d for like the trillionth time.\u00a0 And it has all the same silly things going on every time I see it.\u00a0 The gags are telegraphed, the sentiment is slapped on with a cement trowel, the improbabilities are piled to the sky.\u00a0 You name it.<\/p>\n
But watching the three leads; Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. go through their paces as Kipling\u2019s three sergeants is a never-ending treat that I can watch several times a year probably until they finally bury me.\u00a0 It\u2019s a joy to behold.<\/p>\n
And the picture works as both a comedy and an adventure story.\u00a0 And the supporting cast (including an elephant named Annie) provide plenty of support and opportunity for our heroes to search for treasure, destroy British Army discipline, romance the girl or save the day.\u00a0 And you know, I think I like the fact that even when it was being made, the British Raj was already a sore point for the social justice types but this movie plays up the \u201cwhite man\u2019s burden\u201d aspect of the story even more than needed to match the historical era.<\/p>\n
Sam Jaffe\u2019s Gunga Din really is a minor role right up until the critical juncture in the story where he saves the day.\u00a0 But he does give the regimental bhisti his due.\u00a0 And the actors portraying the army officers and the officious Bertie Higginbotham, all acquit themselves with the expected amount of British bluster.<\/p>\n
So, what makes this movie fun?\u00a0 Despite the well-acted lead characters, I think the success of this movie is thanks to the unflagging action, both comic and adventure.\u00a0 The heroes are constantly fighting savage tribesmen, jumping off cliffs into rivers, breaking out of jail by means of elephant powered building demolition and fighting their way through a saloon full of Scottish highlanders.\u00a0 They only slow down when poisoning Bertie Higginbotham at an engagement party.\u00a0 Armies of strangling Thuggees are no match for these soldiers three as they roll out their \u201cthree musketeers \/ all for one and one for all\u201d routine to frustrate the Thug Guru\u2019s master plan to defeat the British and restore India to the greatness it had known before Alexander the Great had slapped it around in the fourth century BC.<\/p>\n
So, I have to state which of the three sergeants is my personal favorite.\u00a0 Now Douglas Fairbanks Jr.\u2019s Sgt. Ballantine is never in the running.\u00a0 He\u2019s the romantic lead and thereby much abused by his fianc\u00e9e\u2019s humiliating attentions.\u00a0 And despite the excellent work done by Cary Grant as the ebullient Sgt. Archibald Cutter I have to give the win to Victor McLaglen\u2019s Sgt. MacChesney.\u00a0 Just on the strength of the facial expressions that he manages when the Colonel confronts him with the prospect of Bertie Higginbotham replacing Ballantine, I\u2019d have to give him the prize.\u00a0 But there are just so many great scenes where he steals the show.\u00a0 Even pleading with an elephant using \u201cbaby talk\u201d to get it to take medicine always cracks me up.\u00a0 And it really is McLaglen with his hand in the elephant\u2019s mouth.<\/p>\n
So why can\u2019t they make movies like this anymore?\u00a0 I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the actors.\u00a0 There are plenty of those who could perform these parts.\u00a0 It\u2019s the writers and directors.\u00a0 Either they can\u2019t or won\u2019t give us good stories.\u00a0 Maybe the producers just won\u2019t allow them.\u00a0 But whatever it is, that\u2019s where we are.\u00a0 And I can live with that.\u00a0 I have my DVD and it\u2019ll last for longer than I will.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow in Injia\u2019s sunny clime,<\/strong> Rudyard Kipling<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today I watched the old movie \u201cGunga Din\u201d for like the trillionth time.\u00a0 And it has all the same silly things going on every time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,239,238,237],"tags":[716,1502,1503,43,746,2952,1501],"class_list":["post-34683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-movie-reviews","category-classic-movie-reviews","category-reviews","tag-cary-grant","tag-douglas-fairbanks-jr","tag-gunga-din","tag-movie-review","tag-rudyard-kipling","tag-sam-jaffe","tag-victor-mclaglen"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nWhere I used to spend my time
\nA-servin\u2019 of \u2019Er Majesty the Queen,
\nOf all them blackfaced crew
\nThe finest man I knew
\nWas our regimental bhisti, Gunga Din.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n