Gunga Din

Three sergeants in the British colonial army: Cutter, MacChesney and Ballantine. All three are brawlers, undisciplined and unwilling to be parted, but Ballantine plans to marry and leave. In the region a long dormant sect is organising again. Gunga Din, who carries water for the regiment, wants to be a soldier, and nobody takes him seriously. George Stevens directs. Cary Grant plays Cutter, Victor McLaglen plays MacChesney and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. plays Ballantine. Sam Jaffe plays Gunga Din. The source is Rudyard Kipling's poem of the same name. Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur were among those who worked on the screenplay. Its place in film history has to do with setting the adventure template. Three friends, an exotic danger, a temple sequence and a rescue at the last moment: that structure became a direct model for dozens of later films, Indiana Jones among them. It was one of the most expensive productions of its day and was shot in California, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Its heaviest problem now is point of view. The colonial army is shown as unconditionally right, the local people are drawn as a threat, and the Indian character is played by an American actor in make up. The film was withdrawn from screens in India. Who it is for: anyone interested in classical Hollywood adventure and the history of the genre. Who it is not for: the colonial narrative is open rather than implied, the racial representation is indefensible now, and the humour belongs to its period.