| Gunga Din is built on a plot line with a "split level" | | | | Thugs and they get ready to watch their own |
| personality. It is like two different organisms with two | | | | regiment get massacred by the rebels. However, |
| different personalities living inside the same body. | | | | despite being mortally wounded, the lowly Gunga Din |
| On the one hand we have the fast talking, | | | | manages to climb to the dome of the Golden Temple |
| wisecracking, happy-go-lucky Sergeants who almost | | | | and blares out his bugle in one final act of patriotism, |
| convince us that war can be "fun" when it's waged by | | | | while mumbling "the Colonel must know..." Gunga Din's |
| good-hearted musketeers like these. | | | | final sacrifice saves the Regiment. |
| And on the other hand we have this Kali-worshipping | | | | The Colonel pays him back by honoring Gunga Din at |
| scary "cult warriors" who personalize "The Other" with | | | | his funeral with that famous last line: "You're a better |
| their incomprehensible "Golden Temple" rituals and | | | | man than I am, Gunga Din!" The books are balanced |
| seemingly insatiable drive for bloodletting. "Freedom | | | | and we can all go home. |
| fighters" these bad guys are not even though the | | | | If this film were shot six years later, at the end of the |
| good guys have actually invaded their country. | | | | WW2, would it be the same "war is okay since the |
| The plot line zigs and zags between these two | | | | good win and the bad die" type of simplistic vehicle? |
| unconnected platforms; between the good humored | | | | Who knows. But it is clear that Cary Grant could've |
| male camaraderie and swashbuckling action in which a | | | | done much better in terms of selecting a part to do |
| handful of British infantrymen manage to repel the | | | | justice to his acting skills. |
| faceless Thuggee hordes. | | | | However, perhaps I'm being too critical here. |
| Cary Grant and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. do alright and | | | | Considering the fact that just only ten years earlier |
| deliver their quote of humor with enough double-takes | | | | Grant (as Archibald Leach) was trying to earn a living |
| and good comedic timing. But above average acting is | | | | by walking on stilts, working as an "ladies' escort" and |
| not enough to save this film from sinking fast, | | | | selling neckties on the streets of Manhattan, Gunga Din |
| especially with today's modern standards of dramatic | | | | can still be viewed as a good step in the right direction |
| character, action and plot. It just isn't there. | | | | for him. |
| At the end all three sergeants are captured by the | | | | |