Kim

good movie

The movie is based on a book by Kipling, and situated in India during the colonial era, so expect the good guys to be British, India to be loved and surprisingly, the Russians to be the bad guys. The tale is about Kim, a young British orphan born in India who escapes going to the British schools by pretending to be a young Indian. His knowledge of local languages and customs makes him a good candidate to become a spy for the British.Many aspects of the movie make of it a great find. First, it was filmed in India in 1949-14950, shortly after Indian Independence and not in studio like most Technicolor movies of the day. There are remarkable views of India before the great move towards modernity. You would need today a lot of special effects to do the movie, while 60 years ago, plain photography was good enough. Only a few scenes were shot in California. The actors are beautiful to watch, from a very young Dean Stockwell as Kim to Errol Flynn, flamboyant as a red-beard horse merchant with a taste for women, and Academy-award winner Paul Lukas playing a lama who becomes a companion to Kim.Many children become spies in war times, like Audrey Hepburn in world war 2. R.V. Jones says in his memoirs that many children were pretending to play on the roads while counting the number of tanks and troops in Holland and Belgium. But this story of a young spy has exotic charm as a plus and it does not have the rigid morality rules of the early Disney movies. For instance Flynn (as Mahbub Ali, the Red Beard) kisses a woman who turns out to be a spy for the other side and .... you got to see this film. It is as good as, say, Indiana Jones.

Despite Errol Flynn's issues with the public during the Second World War, this remains one of the great classics. His acting always seemed on the cusp of silent and talkie film, and perhaps that little bit "hammed up". He yet again portrays effectively the true "villainous hero" type. I always felt Dean Stockwell should have got top billing, but then I saw it first as a kid around his age. He had the good fortune to be selected to play roles in a number of the other films of Kipling's novels (for example, Captains Courageous). Kipling's great adventures were the ultimate "stuff" of the Saturday Matinee, and this is a prime example of those "ripping yarn" style presentations. The later production with Ravi Sheth was good, in colour,with great character actors (Bryan Brown) but seemed to lack the period charm of the original. My advice. Read the book, watch the original, watch the remake and then decide. For those who may not be aware, a later sequel to Kim was written by an Indian author, and while it sides Kim with the pro-independence, anti-Raj movement, it nonetheless takes the story a little further, for those who wondered what happened to Kim afterwards.It is hard to find. I got an interlibrary loan copy from the National Library of Australia. Yes, that hard to find.Five stars for story telling without a great range of special effects. Three stars because it was not possible to show the scenery in colour (and that is definitely an unfair rating) and four and a half stars for Saturday Matinee style acting.This is for curling up on a Saturday after lunch, with a comforting bowl of chips or popcorn, pulling the curtains and travelling back in time.

"Kim", based on a story by Rudyard Kipling and filmed on locationin India in 1950, is a fascinating movie. It is the type of moviethat you can watch over and over again and still be entertained.Essentially an adventure movie, it also has moments of drama,amusement, devotion, suspense, intrigue and action and you aretotally absorbed in young Kim's wonderous world. It is acolorful display of life in India at the turn of last centurywhen England ruled this vast empire.The story deals with the continuing infiltration into India ofthe Soviet Union and its satellites through the Kyber Pass intheir attempt to dominate the northern provinces of India.Mahbub Ali "Red Beard" (Errol Flynn) works for the BritishSecret Service who are attempting to foil the plot. He enliststhe aid of his young friend Kim (Dean Stockwell) who is anorphaned white boy and a product of the back streets andalleyways. Kim is used as a courier and a spy. He is alsoa devoted disciple of a Buddhist priest (Paul Lucas) and hehelps him in his quest to find a sacred river. The priestreturns the favour and for his friendship and devotion paysfor the boy's education at a military school.The leader of the Secret Service is Colonel Creighton(Robert Douglas) and other members are Hurree Chunder(Cecil Kelloway) and Lurgan Sahib (Arnold Moss).One of my favourite segments of the movie is when young Kimis placed in the care of Lurgan Sahib who teaches Kim theart of observation and remembering what he has seen down tothe last detail - to-day commonly called "Kim's Game".The entire cast is outstanding and in particular Errol Flynn,Dean Stockwell and Paul Lucas.Great entertainment.

Orphaned mixed race child is put to work by the British Empire as a spy. He easily blends among the locals and is able to gain important information for the military. I thought it was a great adventure as a child, but see the manipulation as an adult.