Gunga Din

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1 hr. 57 min.

Adventure

List

93%

27 Reviews

Tomatometer

74%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

British army sergeants Ballantine (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), Cutter (Cary Grant) and MacChesney (Victor McLaglen) serve in India during the 1880s, along with their native water-bearer, Gunga Din (Sam Jaffe). While completing a dangerous telegraph-repair mission, they unearth evidence of the suppressed Thuggee cult. When Gunga Din tells the sergeants about a secret temple made of gold, the fortune-hunting Cutter is captured by the Thuggees, and it's up to his friends to rescue him.

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Critics Consensus

Funny, suspenseful, and spectacularly entertaining, Gunga Din is an expertly calibrated adventure flick with some unfortunately outdated ideas about race.

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Jay F

It's a trek, if you're watching just to understand Olivia Soprano's reference to her neighbor, which I was.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

12/16/23

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mark l

For fans of old fashion adventures, Cary Grant and Rudyard Kipling, it doesn't get any better. It's sad there are some reviews that found the movie wanting, even rated it poorly. I suspect that's the effect of contemporary culture. In the history of movies, Gunga Din deserves to always be ranked at the top.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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Audience Member

While it is fashionable in too many circles to condemn anything which portrays European colonialism generally, and the British Empire specifically, in a favorable light, a little historical knowledge will show that Kipling's story, as well as this superb film, are hardly the reactionary racist screed some would like to demote them to. Gunga Din is a regimental bhisti - a water carrier - and in 19th century India that meant that he had a job which guaranteed a place to sleep and food in a very brutal society. Considering that he was also an "untouchable" - a member of India's lowest caste - this was something. Colonel Weed is correct in saying "he had no official status as a soldier" - bhistis were non-military auxiliaries. As for his loyalty to the British, there were many Indians who clearly preferred British rule to that of their fellows - and not just the maharajas and princes. If you read the story - and watch the movie with an objective eye - at the end, all the major characters have nothing but respect for Gunga Din. Sergeant MacChesney (Victor McLaglen) is clearly shamed by the fact that Din, in the end, was not only the better soldier but the better man - he sacrificed himself to prevent the ambush and massacre of the British column. The most telling example that the movie doesn't "put down" Gunga Din is at the end when Colonel Weed posthumously appoints the former regimental bhisti as a Corporal in the regiment. Corporal was a BRITISH rank - the equivalent Indian rank was Havildar. So, he was appointed as a BRITISH non-commissioned officer who could command British troops - hardly an example of political incorrectness. Yes, this is "men-as-buddies" flick. However, this movie has a special appeal to anyone who has actually served in the military - those are the types of friendships you make (you'll share your last drop of water with your mess mate) and keep for the rest of your days. It acknowledges that. So enjoy it - it is a rousing tale - and keep the PC-nonsense out of it. The bad guys lose in the end while the best man is recognized for his virtues - you don't even get that it in real life.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Quite possibly my age influences my assessment of this flick but I loved it…saw it maybe five to ten times in my lifetime. I've always liked everything that Cary Grant was in….also Ben Jaffe, Douglas Fairbanks and Victor McLaughlin. Once when my family was getting ready to watch Peter Sellers in The Party, I made everyone watch Gunga Din beforehand so they would get the joke at the beginning of Blake Edwards' The Party.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

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William L

If you consider Gunga Din from a modern perspective, with its dated racial politics, questionable character motivations, and very jagged shifts in tone, you're going to wind up disappointed. As a stepping stone in the history of popular action film though, it is a thundering triumph, incorporating leads that were something more entertaining than the simplistically pure Erroll Flynn-type, exotic locales, and humorous subplots to support the main adventure narrative. Grant explores territory that is nearly against type, adopting a foolishness that contrasts his typical leading-man confidence and wry humor, but it's a role he's surprisingly suited to. Still, watching it today, it can't help but feel like a poor man's version of Temple of Doom, (which is mathematically the worst of the original Indiana Jones movies), fighting a sect of the Thuggee cult and featuring a pursuit of treasure, some screwball moments, a high-minded cause to supplant the main adventure, and both a snake pit scene and a cut rope bridge. The tone is probably one of the most rough-cut elements of the film, with the opening seizure of the town being a perfect example, jumping back and forth between a carefully laid ambush with mortal consequences and a series of borderline slapstick boxing bouts. Its considerable influence can be felt decades down the line, but with this influence comes inevitable comparison to decades of successors, to which it is more of a predecessor work exclusively. (2.5/5)

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/28/22

Full Review

Audience Member

it's funny, action packed, male bonding, friends forever. it has some cheesy filming techniques which i am sure was state of the art for 1938/39. i am 53 growing up it was on every few weeks and i watched it every time. as an adult i own it and watch it every few years. i love it.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

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George Stevens

Director

Cary Grant

Sgt. Archibald Cutter

Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Sgt. Thomas "Tommy" Ballantine

Victor McLaglen

Sgt. "Mac" MacChesney

Joan Fontaine

Emaline "Emmy" Stebbins

Sam Jaffe

Gunga Din

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Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Stevens's deliberate pacing serves the comedy remarkably well, although the action scenes are blunted by too-careful compositions and artsy cutting.

Nov 13, 2007

Full Review

Tom Milne

Time Out

This is a pretty spiffing adventure yarn, with some classically staged fights, terrific performances.

Jun 24, 2006

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Tony Sloman

Radio Times

George Stevens makes a superb job of handling the rumbustious squaddies in his biggest budget movie to date.

Rated: 5/5

Apr 4, 2024

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John Kinloch

California Eagle

Cary Grant, it seems, is becoming one of the screen's subtlest comedians and, perhaps, a brilliant actor.

Oct 30, 2019

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Wesley Lovell

Cinema Sight

An entertaining, if antiquated feature made all the better by the three well-appointed leads.

Rated: 3/4

Jun 9, 2011

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Tim Brayton

Antagony & Ecstasy

One of the better adventure movies from the 1930s.

Rated: 8/10

Feb 24, 2009

Full Review

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Synopsis

British army sergeants Ballantine (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), Cutter (Cary Grant) and MacChesney (Victor McLaglen) serve in India during the 1880s, along with their native water-bearer, Gunga Din (Sam Jaffe). While completing a dangerous telegraph-repair mission, they unearth evidence of the suppressed Thuggee cult. When Gunga Din tells the sergeants about a secret temple made of gold, the fortune-hunting Cutter is captured by the Thuggees, and it's up to his friends to rescue him.

Director: George Stevens
Screenwriter: Rudyard Kipling, Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur, Fred Guiol
Distributor: RKO Radio Pictures, Nostalgia Merchant
Production Co: RKO Radio Pictures Inc.
Genre: Adventure
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 24, 1939, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 21, 2016
Sound Mix: Mono

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