ELEPHANT BOY
UK, 1937, 80 minutes, Black and white.
Sabu, W.E.Holloway, Walter Hudd, Wilfrid Hyde- White.
Directed by Robert Flaherty, Zoltan Korda.
This films was popular on its first release in the late thirties. Sir Alexander Korda had built up London Films during the thirties with prestigious films as The Private Life Of Henry VIII and his unfinished I Claudius. He also moulded the careers of several stars including his wife Merle Oberon. He worked with his family, especially director Zoltan Korda. One of his discoveries was the Indian boy, Sabu, who was then used in such films as The Drum, Four Feathers and The Thief of Baghdad.
Zoltan Korda directed this semi-documentary on location in India and was joined in direction by celebrated documentarist, Robert Flaherty who made the classics, Nanook of The North, Moana, Man of Aran, and was to make The Louisiana Story after World War II. His sense of location is evident in the excellent black and white photography of India and the animals. The story in based on Rudyard Kipling's Toomi, The Elephant Boy.
1. The popularity of the film in its time? Echoing its period? Impact now? (Comparisons with telemovies and later documentaries and the availability of material on countries such as India?)
2. The work of Alexander Korda and London Films? This film as part of his prestige work in the thirties? The background of Robert Flaherty and his documentaries? The combination of fiction with documentary for entertainment?
3. The Indian locations, black and white photography, the authentic atmosphere, the villages, the jungle, hunting, the animals, the tiger and especially the elephants?
4. The background of Rudyard Kipling's story: his view of India, its way of life, the villages, the adults and their tending of the elephants, working for the white men, a boy's life in the village, hunting? The administration - the white hunters, governor? The involvement of all in the round-up of the elephants? An Empire story?
5. The focus on Toomi: Sabu and his introduction to the film, the engaging young boy telling his story? His way of life, his way with the elephants, relationship with his father, presentation of his elephant, Petersen being allowed to join the hunt, taking part in the adventures, his skill? The death of his father? His dream and his discovery of the elephants? His being looked down on by the adults? his triumph at the end?
6. The emphasis on the elephants - their place in the Indian jungle, in Indian society and religion? The religious background of the film? The magnificence of the elephants in their walk, in their groupings?
7. The basic story and its enjoyment? The optimistic ending? The picture of a young jungle boy and his achievement? Echoes of India and its past, the British Empire? The beauty and majesty of India?
