128. GUNGA DIN (1939)

Running Time: 117 minutes
Directed By: George Stevens
Written By: Ben Hecht, from poem by Rudyard Kipling
Main Cast: Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Sam Jaffe

ENTERING THE HOME STRETCH OF THE 1930s

With only four movies remaining (including this one) until we wrap up the decade of the 1930s, we enter the home stretch with "Gunga Din", a movie that seemed to drag on forever, with no end in sight.

The film starts out with a small fleet of British soldiers being captured by a group of quasi-terrorists, later named the Thuggee's, and when they don't answer to communication, the British Indian Army sends in a fleet of troops to investigate the matter. The group is led by three buddies, who are part of the Royal Engineers, MacChesney, Cutter and Ballantine. Upon arrival at the post, they find no trace of the missing soldiers, but do find themselves under attack by a large number of Thuggee's. The fleet fight them off without much trouble, making for a semi-entertaining action sequence, complete with sticks of dynamite and sword fighting. After their small victory, they trek back to their commanding officers, and on the way there, Cutter and MacChesney learn that Ballantine will be leaving the armed forces in a matter of days to get married. When they report to their commanding officers, the three are filled in on the history of the Thuggee's and told that they're basically a cult of killing machines.

Meanwhile, Gunga Din, a water bearer, who longs to be a solider, tells Cutter of a treasure on the outskirts of the town. Cutter, being a known treasure hunter, takes the bait and goes with Gunga Din to check out the treasure. When they arrive at a large temple, which Gunga Din claims is filled with gold, that's just what they find, however it's also the shelter for hundreds of Thuggee's. Not knowing that the Thuggee's are inside, they march in and find themselves caught, unable to get out. Cutter lets himself be known, so that Gunga Din can get away and go get the cavalry. Din goes back to get MacChesney, who swindles Ballantine into going with him, despite the objections of his bride to be. MacChesney and Ballantine, along with Gunga Din, go alone to the temple, and give orders that if they don't return within a day, that the rest of the fleet is to follow their trail.

This film was an odd mix of comedy and action adventure and as per my tastes, those two usually don't mix well. The story, which ultimately is centered around the lowly water bearer Gunga Din, doesn't pay enough attention to this character, therefore, when the movie finishes and we're supposed to be "Hooray for Gunga Din!!", I'm left with only the feeling of relief that the picture is over and those lovely words "The End" are appearing. Despite my dislike for Cary Grant, I actually found him to be the most likable character in the movie, with the most comedy that actually got a few chuckles out of me here and there. The rest of the performances were fine, yet nothing to get excited over. The movie was just dull, in my opinion, with a big chunk in the middle with literally nothing happening. It pretty much went like this: beginning, action sequence, nothing, action sequence, end. I didn't even find the action sequences to be as dazzling as the '1001' book made them out to be.

RATING: 2.5/10 Another disliked film goes on the watched list and I get to move on and try to put this one out of my memory.

NEXT UP: Ninotchka...How do you (usually) spell boring...G-A-R-B-O. I'm would be lying if I said I was looking forward to this one, but I'll keep my attitude positive and hopefully I'm pleasantly surprised. Review to come later today.

March 5, 2010 2:28am