Gunga Din

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Gunga Din

1939,

1h 57m,

Adventure

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Watchlist

88%

26 Reviews

Tomatometer

74%

5,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

88%

Tomatometer

26 Reviews

74%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

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.

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and spectacularly entertaining, Gunga Din is an expertly calibrated adventure flick with some unfortunately outdated ideas about race.

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Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Nov 13, 2007

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

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Tom Milne

Time Out

Jun 24, 2006

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

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

May 18, 2026

3.5/4

The knockabout humor keeps the entire story in high spirits even when matters become grim.

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Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

Feb 6, 2025

4/10

This undertaking resembles a frivolous comic strip or a Saturday matinee serial, with carefree, blockheaded protagonists invincibly traipsing through war zones, utterly ignorant of the hazards of the military and political climate.

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Tony Sloman

Radio Times

Apr 4, 2024

5/5

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

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John Kinloch

California Eagle

Oct 30, 2019

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

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Poe R

Apr 30, 2014

The blackface in the film is so unrealistic it detracts from the film, and there is nothing within the film that is laudable, other than the praise of a fictional Indian's courage in a world where only white achievements were generally acknowledged. None of the performances stood out, not even Cary Grant's. Long-winded with no entertainment to show for it.

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Anakin R

Aug 6, 2013

Interesting story about Indian colonization by the British, based on Kiplings poem. It was lighthearted with grant and co. Then fighting the forces of the heathen religion of Kali. But it was cheesy and melodramatic. I did smile a bit though. 1001 movies to see before you die.

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Leia W

Mar 9, 2011

Between 2.5 and 3. Flaw as adventure movie and not funny enough to be a comedy, but the leader and temple of thugees (which, for sure, inspired Spielberg) is interesting enough to have a watch... maybe not to the whole movie, but at least some scenes.

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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

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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
Producer: 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
Runtime: 1h 57m
Sound Mix: Mono

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