This 1937 movie, produced by the British Korda Brothers was on Turner Classic Movies a couple of weeks ago. The Kordas were great movie makers. Likely their most famous was "Four Feathers," a 1939 epic about the British war against the Muslim Mahdists in the Sudan. Filmed on location in the Sudan, it involved a cast of thousands and countless camels. There have been postings about it on the blog. Elephant Boy features the 13-year old child star Sabu Dastagir, as the elephant boy. It too was filmed on location, this time in and near Mysore. If one likes elephants then this is your movie. Sabu has charge of Kala Nag, a really huge Indian tusker. I had seen it many, many years ago but really enjoyed it this time. It is not a corny film like so many low budget "jungle " movies. |
Tuesday, May 07, 2013
From Richard Reynolds #1
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
These Korda movies are just great. I enjoy all of them, especially FOUR FEATHERS. I have enjoyed TCM for quite some time and the great Hollywood musicals are increditable with so much fantastic talent, staging and choreography. We do not have any movies as of late that remotely touch Kordas and musicales. The Buzzy Berkely arte just amazing. I e4specaially enjoy the great dancing done by both male and female stars. Just sqw an old musical with Al Jolson and Alice Faye. Corney story but still just great. What a guy Jolson was and Faye was a great actress-performer.Modern day showbusiness is at an all time low to be sure and young [eople are so brainwashed they have no idea what was before. Too bad. johnny
Sabu was RKO’s first choice to play the title role in GUNGA DIN (1939). Unfortunately, he was unavailable, and the part went to Sam Jaffe. When asked years later how he was able to play an Indian Hindu so convincingly, Jaffe replied that he kept telling himself to "Think Sabu."
ELEPHANT BOY is a movie, once seen, will never be forgotten. When I first saw it, I was stunned to realize that this elephant work was the real thing, shot in real time under the most dangerous conditions. The wild elephant round-up with the trained elephants herding them into captivity is the most pulse-pounding animal footage I've seen on film. The Kordas have you thinking you are going to be stampeded to death just watching it. Find it by any means and grab something stout to hold onto when you see it.
Post a Comment