Gunga Din is a 1939 adventure film directed by George Stevens. The film stars Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Gunga Din is based on Rudyard Kipling’s 1890 poem of the same name and also used elements from Kipling’s short story collection Soldiers Three (1888).
Director: George Stevens
Production Company: RKO Radio Pictures
Distributor: RKO Radio Pictures
Cast: Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Sam Jaffe, Eduardo Ciannelli, Joan Fontaine
US Box Office: $4,720,000 ($196,400,000 adjusted for inflation)
Film Format: Black & White
Genre: Adventure
Release Date: January 24, 1939 (premiere); February 17, 1939 (general release)
Plot Summary: In the 1880s British Indian Northwest Frontier, three Sergeants: Archibald Cutter (Cary Grant), “Mac” MacChesney (Victor McLaglen), and Tommy Ballantine (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) are assigned to investigate the resurgent Thuggee cult attacking local villages. The three are good friends, though Cutter and MacChesney are disappointed to learn that Ballantine will soon leave the service to marry his fiancé Emmy Stebbins (Joan Fontaine). The friendly water-bearer Gunga Din (Sam Jaffe) and the treasure-seeking Cutter travel to the mysterious “Temple of Gold” that Din found earlier, but unbeknownst to the two, the “Temple of Gold” is actually the Thuggee headquarters!
Production: Producer Edward Small purchased the film rights to Rudyard Kipling’s 1890 poem “Gunga Din” in 1936 with the intention that he would produce the film through his company Reliance Pictures. RKO Radio Pictures gained the rights to “Gunga Din” when Small joined RKO. In March of 1937, director Howard Hawks signed a contract with RKO Radio Pictures to direct Gunga Din. The initial screenplay for Gunga Din was written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. Hecht and MacArthur took inspiration from Kipling’s poem, but based the three main characters (renamed Cutter, MacChesney, and Ballantine) off the lead characters in Kipling’s short story collection Soldiers Three (1888).
RKO executives initially hoped to cast Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy and Franchot Tone (all were under contract with MGM) in the lead roles, but MGM was unwilling to loan them to RKO, so the studio delayed production on Gunga Din. In the meantime, Hawks directed the comedy film Bringing Up Baby (1938). Bringing Up Baby went over budget and was a box office failure, so RKO executives removed Hawks from Gunga Din. George Stevens was assigned to direct (and produce) Gunga Din. Stevens primarily directed musicals and comedies at the time, such as Swing Time (1936), A Damsel in Distress (1937), and Vivacious Lady (1938). Joel Sayre and Fred Guiol wrote a new screenplay for Gunga Din based on Hecht and MacArthur’s story. Various other writers made uncredited contributions as well, including William Faulkner. Alfred Newman composed the score for Gunga Din, he had recently composed the music for the adventure film The Prisoner of Zenda (1937).
Cary Grant was initially cast in the role of Sgt. Thomas Ballantine. However, Grant wanted to instead play the part of Sgt. Archibald Cutter. That character was more prominent in Gunga Din and would better allow Grant to showcase his acting range and comedic talents. Stevens allowed Grant to switch to the Cutter role. Grant had recently starred in the comedy films The Awful Truth (1937) and Bringing Up Baby. The part of Ballantine was instead given to Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Sources differ as to whether Fairbanks Jr. was previously cast in the Cutter role (and then forced to switch roles with Grant) or hadn’t been hired until after Grant took the part of Cutter.
British-American actor Victor McLaglen was cast as Sgt. MacChesney. McLaglen was a popular character actor but also played a few lead roles, such as in John Ford’s The Informer (1935) where he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Character actor Sam Jaffe played Indian water bearer Gunga Din. Jaffe based his performance off the popular Indian child star Sabu. Joan Fontaine was cast as Emmy Stebbins, Ballantine’s fiancé in the film. Fontaine was the younger sister of actress Olivia de Havilland. She had recently starred in The Man Who Found Himself (1937) and You Can’t Beat Love (1937).
George Stevens began shooting Gunga Din in late June of 1938 and primary filming wrapped up in late October. The scenes set at the Khyber Pass were shot on location at the Sierra Nevada mountain range and the Alabama Hills in California. Additional location shooting took place near the town of Lone Pine, CA; near Yuma, Arizona; and at RKO’s Encino movie ranch. The interior scenes were shot on set at RKO studios. Hundreds of extras were featured in the final battle between the British soldiers and the Thuggee. The location shooting was evidently convincing, as later in life Douglas Fairbanks Jr. met several Indians who were convinced Gunga Din was shot at the real Khyber Pass in India and refused to believe him when he told them it was actually filmed in California!
Fun Facts and Trivia: The scene where Annie the elephant tries to follow Cutter and Gunga Din across the rickety rope bridge looked more dangerous than it really was. In real life, the bridge was only actually eight feet off the ground. A matte painting of a chasm was just edited over the original background to give the illusion that the bridge was situated over an abyss.
Robert Coote (Sgt. Higginbottom) also appeared in Soldiers Three (1951), where he played a different character. That film was a direct adaptation of Kipling’s short story collection Soldiers Three; while Cutter, MacChesney, and Ballantine from Gunga Din were based on the three main characters of Soldiers Three. A fictionalized version of author Rudyard Kipling (played by Reginald Sheffield) appears briefly in Gunga Din. The Kipling family disliked the way the late author was portrayed, so some initial-release prints of the film were edited to remove the character.
Reception: RKO originally planned to release Gunga Din in December 1938 but had to delay the film for retakes. The film premiered in Los Angeles on January 24, 1939. Gunga Din went into general release a few weeks later on February 17. The film performed well at the box office and was one of the top ten highest grossing films of the year. Despite strong box office results, Gunga Din lost over $100,000 due to its high budget. Following criticism from by the Indian newspaper The Bombay Chronicle and the magazine Filmindia, Gunga Din was banned in the Indian providences of Bengal and Bombay. The Empire of Japan also banned the film due to its depiction of India.
Gunga Din received generally positive reviews from Western film critics. John Kinloch of The California Eagle had strong praise for Cary Grant’s performance. The critics at Time magazine gave Gunga Din a mildly positive review. They described it as being “first-class entertainment,” however they also criticized Gunga Din for being too similar to other British Colonial India adventure films such as The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935) and The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936). The magazine Photoplay ranked Gunga Din as one of the Best Pictures of the Month (for April), while Grant and Victor McLaglen both received Best Performances of the Month awards.
Gunga Din continues to receive primarily positive reviews from modern critics. Jeffrey M. Anderson of Combustible Celluloid described Gunga Din as being a “hugely exciting adventure film.” He also noted that it was one of George Stevens’ last escapist entertainment films before he became more interested in serious drama following World War II. Ken Hanke of Mountain Xpress and Jeffrey Westhoff of the Northwest Herald gave Gunga Din perfect 5/5 star reviews. TV Guide also gave the film a perfect review score. Despite criticizing Gunga Din‘s political stance, TV Guide had strong praise for the film’s action, humor, and sense of spectacle. In 2006 the American Film Institute ranked Gunga Din as the 74th most inspirational American film of all time on their “100 years… 100 cheers” list.
In 1962, John Sturges directed a loose remake of Gunga Din titled Sergeants 3, which changed the setting from Colonial India to the American West. The three sergeants were played by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Peter Lawford; and that film’s equivalent to the character Gunga Din was played by Sammy Davis Jr. As a young man, Sturges worked as an uncredited editor on the original Gunga Din. The later adventure film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) took inspiration from Gunga Din. That film was also set in India and featured the Thuggee cult as villains, with the Thuggee leader Mola Ram being based on Guru (Eduardo Ciannelli) from Gunga Din.
Oscars: Gunga Din was included on a preliminary list of films submitted to the Academy Awards for consideration for the Best Black & White Cinematography Oscar. Only two of the films included on the preliminary list were given nominations (Wuthering Heights and Stagecoach). Wuthering Heights won the award.
Why You Should See It: Gunga Din is a great classic adventure film. The film’s locations are stunning, the sets and the Alabama Hills scenery both look good. Gunga Din features lots of action and plenty of humor. Director George Stevens does a skillful job of balancing both the dramatic and comedic moments, so that the comedy doesn’t seem intrusive. Alfred Newman’s score is top notch and similarly follows both the action and the comedy well. Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. have a fun dynamic together and are believable as friends (especially Grant and McLaglen). I also like Gunga Din‘s strong patriotic sentiments.