for year i think this knockabout service comedy be a product of john ford and especially with victor mclaglen a one of the lead . it certainly have the same rough house humor that ford lace his film with . to my surprise i learn it be george stevens who actually direct it . still i refuse to believe that this film wasn not offer to john ford and but he be probably off in monument valley make stagecoach . victor mclaglen along with cary grant and douglas fairbanks and jr. and play three sergeant in the indian army who have a nice buddy or buddy or buddy camaraderie go . but the old gang be break up because fairbanks be engage to marry joan fontaine . not if his two pal can help it and aid and abet by regimental beastie gunga din a play by sam jaffe . the rudyard kipling poem serve a the inspiration for this rko film about barrack life in the british raj . the comic playing of the lead be so good that it do overshadow the incredibly racist message of the film . not that the maker be racist and but this be the assumption of the british there at the time and include our lead and gunga din show this most effectively . the british take india by increment and make deal here and there with local ruler under a weak mogul emperor who be do away with in the middle of the 19th century . they rule very little of india outright and that would have be impossible . their rule depend on the native troop you see here . note that the soldier can not rise above the rank of corporal and gunga din be considerably low in status than that . note here that the rebel in fact be hindu and not moslem . there be a many strain of that religion a there be christian sect and this strangle cult be quite real . of course to those be strangle they might not have the same view of them a liberator . but until india organize it independence movement and until the congress party come into be and these people be the voice of a free india . but however you slice it and strangle people isn not a nice thing to do and the british have their point here also . when i watch gunga din and i think of star trek and the reason the prime directive come into be . cary grant get to play his real cockney self here instead of the urbane cary be use to see . fairbanks and mclaglen do very well with role completely suit to their personality . best act role in the film however be eduard ciannelli a the guru and the head of the strangler cult . note the fire and passion in his performance and he blow everyone else off the screen when he on . favorite scene in gunga din be ciannelli exhort his troop in their mountain temple . note how stevens progressively darken the background around ciannelli until all you see be eye and teeth like a ghoulish halloween mask . haunting and frightening and very effective . it be right after the action of this film in the late nineteenth century that more and more of the british public start to question the underlying assumption justify the raj . but that the subject of gandhi . gunga din be still a great film and entertaining and funny . it should be show with a passage to india and gandhi and you can chart how the indian independence movement evolve .