Gunga Din

Gunga Din (1939) is one of Hollywood's classic adventure films. Even in a year that saw Beau Geste and The Four Feathers, Gunga Din manages to stand out for sheer enjoyability.

In 1880s India, the fanatical Guru (Eduardo Cianelli) leads an uprising of the Thugs, a murderous strangler cult bent on wiping out the Raj. This matters little to a trio of rowdy British Sergeants: treasure-seeking Cutter (Cary Grant), elephant-loving MacChesney (Victor McLaglen) and dashing Ballantine (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.). They're more concerned with Ballantine's impending marriage to Emmy (Joan Fontaine), daughter of a tea executive, and do everything they can to sabotage his plans. In search of a hoard of Indian gold, Cutter stumbles across a Hindu temple where the Guru is organizing his followers for an all-out attack. Ultimately it's up to Gunga Din (Sam Jaffe), a bhishti water-bearer who desperately wants to be a soldier, to save the day.

Gunga Din is pure fun from beginning to end, a silly boy's adventure film with no pretension of seriousness. Writers Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur reprise The Front Page's scenario of male professionals shunning female interference, with Ballantine proclaiming "I'm a man first!" to his befuddled fiancee. They might as well hang a "no girls allowed" sign outside the barracks. They're the cool kids on the playground, nice enough to let Gunga Din tag along but sticking it to dorky Sergeant Higgenbottom (Robert Coote). Unlike Beau Geste, there's no mawkish sentiment about the purity of brotherly love: our protagonists have no qualms about backstabbing, pranking and mocking one another when appropriate.

This fits in perfectly with the depiction of war as a fun game ("How can we get a nice little war going?") and the cartoonishly evil Thugs. The threat posed by the Thugs is deadly serious, but our heroes refuse to bow to its gravity. Fighting their way out of an ambush, the sergeants use pistols, pickaxes and dynamite with equal aplomb; at one point, Ballantine flattens a dozen Thugs with a single punch! My favorite scene has Cutter calmly striding into a Thug gathering as a "diversion" for Din. The film's dated elements are easy to overlook because it takes nothing at all seriously.

Ace director George Stevens (Shane) is at the top of his game, delivering an explosive thrill ride. The action scenes are exciting and impressive in staging, especially the expertly-choreographed finale. The film moves has a breakneck pace, mixing action with well-timed comedy sequences. Only a regimental ball in the mid-section goes on a bit long, though it has a funny payoff.

Perhaps Gunga Din's strongest vindication is its influence on later generations of action films: Kelly's Heroes and Three Kings lifted the treasure-hunting plot, while Steven Spielberg cavalierly grafted the Thugee elements onto his Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The Man Who Would Be King (also based on Rudyard Kipling) presented a more cynical take on the story, its duo of cocky Tommies carving out their own private empire in Central Asia. More generally, Stevens's mixture of exciting action and unflappable heroes remains a cornerstone of the genre.

Cary Grant, nearing the height of his stardom, gives the role his trademark mixture of effortless charm and humor. Victor McLaglen (The Informer) was never better and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is appropriately dashing as the nominal straight man. The trio have great chemistry, giving the adventure a childish glee that's impossible to resist.

Sam Jaffe's amusing performance provides the emotional center. Jaffe portrays Din as a comic foil until the finale, where he becomes an unlikely hero, invested with dignity and pathos. If Cutter and Co. like him, he must be a swell guy. Joan Fontaine's (Rebecca) love interest is a throwaway role. Eduardo Cianelli (The Chase) makes a fearsome villain, an evil genius who incites his bloodthirsty followers to "Kill! Kill! KILL!!!" Abner Biberman (His Girl Friday), Montagu Love (The Adventures of Robin Hood) and Robert Coote (The Horse's Mouth) essay other roles.

Gunga Din is one of Hollywood's most purely entertaining adventures. Some elements mark it as a product of 1939, but its mixture of action, charm and irreverence remains irresistible.