Gunga Din (1939)

Drawn by the presence of Cary Grant I was surprised to find not a screwball comedy in Gunga Din but rather a dubiously politically correct adventure with some comedy, set in colonial India sometime in the late 19th century. Grant and his army buddies, Victor McLaglen and Douglas Fairbanks Jr, are a bit of a rebellious trio who become caught in the middle of a plot by an evil lndian Thuggee cult (as seen in Temple of Doom) with designs on retaking the parts of India that the British have already claimed as their own. 

Cue lots of blacked up actors, white men playing Indian, particularly the titular character Gunga Din, the trio's slave-cum-comrade, played by Sam Jaffe just about on the comfortable side of good taste. The movie is apparently loosely based on Rudyard Kipling's poem and I wouldn't have realised until the cameo from the poet at the end (played by an actor obviously). There are some fun fight scenes between the British and the Thuggee Indians, and some good natured banter between the 3 leads. I found the film fairly badly dated though, both in the racial stereotypes and the oft ropey effects and camera tricks. Gunga Din was an interesting fit in what little I have seen of Grant's filmography, and he makes for a dashing hero, there just wasn't enough comedy in this boy's own adventure.