GUNGA DIN

US, 1939, 117 minutes, Black and White.
Cary Grant, Victor Mc Laglen, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Sam Jaffe, Joan Fontaine.
Directed by George Stevens.

Gunga Din is one of the most rousing adventure films of the 30s. Directed by George Stevens, an expert in romantic drama, large scale drama eg. Quality Street, Alice Adams Penny Serenade, The More the Merrier and into the 50s with A Place in the Sun and Giant, Stevens shows his ability to make rousing adventure. Cary Grant, Victor Mc Laglen and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. are very lively as the soldiers three and are very entertaining. A young Joan Fontaine appears now and again as a romantic lead. Sam Jaffe was memorable as the water carrier Gunga Din, who dies heroically. (Perhaps it was a bit unfair of Peter Sellers to parody this so effectively at the beginning of Blake Edwards The Party.)

Music is good, location and atmosphere especially of the Temple of Kali from its
deadly snakes to Cary Grant singing most irreverently in the middle of it. Audiences cannot help being involved. It was to be an influence in such later films as Soldiers Three and Sergeants Three where the theme was transferred to the American West as a vehicle for Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.

1. This film is considered a classic Hollywood adventure. Why? Entertainment value, production quality? The mystique of cinema adventure? Its influence on similar epics about India?

2. The impact of the action sequences. the fights? ordinary soldiers. heroism? The presentation of India and its conflicts at the time of Empire? A romantic view of India? A historical view? How plausible and credible this India?

3. The atmosphere of Rudyard Kipling.. his poetry, his view of Empire? A historical, poetical view of India?

4. The quality of the black and white photography, the re-creation of India, its style? The action sequences? The musical score and its rousing emphasis, especially on the Gunga Din theme? The gong of the credits? The historical note about the worship of Kall?

5. The sympathetic presentation of the British in India? Their work, sense of mission? Historical judgement on this now? Is this relevant to the picture of India of the film?

6. The comradeship between Cutter, Mc Chesney and Ballantyne? The overtones of the three musketeers, three for one and one for all? The bonds of friendship, their joy in being together, skill in mutual help in adventure? Ordinary men? Men's men and the hold that this can take - the spurning of women? The spurning of Ballantyne for thinking of getting married, going to the tea trade? The consequent tricks played? Adventurers and the search for gold? The impact of their first appearance fighting the Scots? Their capabilities on their first mission? The mutual help in the final crisis? The finale and their helping one another? The joie de vivre of this particular spirit?

7. How well did the film delineate their characters and their particular styles? The jokes. the fights, the rebukes etc.?

8. The contrast with the officers and their behaviour eg. the decisions about the fighting in India, behaviour at the dance? Higginbotham and his pompous self-righteousness? The humour of his drinking the punch?'

9. The place of women in this India? A seeming intrusion, eg. Ballantyne's kissing Emmy. the behaviour at the dance? The ridiculing of Ballantyne at the buying of the curtains? Emmy's arrival in the carriage and Ballantyne’s going off to war?

10. The use of the landscapes and the long shots for presenting the panorama of battle, the contrast with the vitality of the close-ups?

11. The focus of the title on Gunga Din himself? An Indian, a contrast with the British? The carrying of water, giving it to the troops working? The patronizing attitude that the British took to him? The important sequence of his practising the drill, explaining his bugle to Cutter? His information about the gold? His helping Cutter escape by means of the elephant? His return? His heroism at the end and the blowing of the bugle and his wounds? The message of his self-dedicated service? The final tribute? The point of the film through the
character of Din?

12. The presentation of the Indians: the cavalry working with the British? The contrast with the sect and their murders, the killing of people in the village? The initial confrontation with Ballantyne and the fight with the three? Their threats of Kali? Their ambushes? The place in the temple, the snakes, as fanatics? Their leader and his self-confidence, especially in his torture of the three and their eventual capturing him? The impact of his death?

13. The importance of Cutter's escape from jail and taking McChesney's elephant (and the contrasting humour with the elephant scenes), his decision then to stir up the worshippers of Kali by his singing in their temple and arresting them, his torture?

14. The suspense as the three were captured and waited for the army to go into the trap?

15. The final battle and its excitement, Din's death? Their return and their tribute?

16. What are the major ingredients for the success of this kind of adventure story? Their constant appeal?