Gunga Din is hailed by an entire generation of directors as a great action movie. When I found the DVD for a dollar, I decided to finally check this one off. I have often found that the art that your favorite artists love? It isn't necessarily art you're going to like too. There are perils in transcending generations. But I like plenty of Cary Grant movies, and 1939 was a great year for movies, right?
The Adventures Of Robin Hood holds up! So here we go. There's some cracking good action, especially the rooftop battle at the beginning, and some funny bits in the middle. The whole bit with the spiked punch, Victor McLagen is hilarious. Watching
Gunga Din is also educational for fans of Indiana Jones - it helps
Temple Of Doom make a lor more sense - peril on a rope bridge, comedy with an elephant, a bloodthirsty cult, whipping the good guys - it's all here.
The whole remainder of the movie is Temple Of Doom-level racist, except way worse, because Gunga Din, the Indian waterboy who yearns to be a British soldier, is played by a middle-aged white man. The Thugee were played by more white guys in brownface. So you've got infinitely patronizing Gunga Din on one side, and the "brown menace" of Indian Kali worshippers on the other. After I figured out Chota the lead Thugee is played by Abner Biberman, who I remember as Louie the pickpocket from Cary Grant's His Girl Friday (1940), that made watching him play a Indian Kali worshiper, slathered in brown makeup, even more uncomfortable. Blurg.
