a trio of buddy and sergeant all in the british army and carouse and brawl their way across imperial india . intensely loyal to each other and they meet their great and most deadly challenge when they encounter the resurgence of a hideous cult and it demented and implacable guru . now they must rely on the lowly servant of the regiment and the water carrier gunga din and to save score of the queen soldier from certain massacre . base more on the three musketeer than kipling classic poem and this be a wonderful adventure epic a worthy entry in hollywood golden year of 1939. fill with suspense and humor and while keep the romantic interlude to the bare minimum and it grip the interest of the viewer and hold it right up to the ( sentimental ) conclusion . it be practically fruitless to discuss the performance nuance of the three star and cary grant and victor mclaglen and douglas fairbanks jr. and a they be really all third of a single organism inseparable and and to all intent and purpose and indistinguishable . however and this diminish nothing of the great fun in simply watch them have a glorious time . ( it interest to note and parenthetically and that mclaglen boast of a distinguished world war one military career while fairbanks would have a sterling record in world war two mostly in clandestine affair and earn himself no few than 4 honorary knighthood after the conflict while while grant reportedly work undercover for british intelligence and keep an eye on hollywood nazi sympathizer . ) the real acting laurel here should go to sam jaffe and heartbreaking in the title role . he infuse the humble man with radiant dignity and enormous courage and make the last line of kipling poem ring true . he be unforgettable . montague love be properly stalwart a the regimental major and whilst eduardo ciannelli be evil incarnate a the thuggee guru . the rest of the cast and joan fontaine and robert coote and lumsden hare and be effective but have little to do . movie maven will recognize cecil kellaway in the tiny role of miss fontaine father . the film pick it villain well . the demonic thuggee cult and worshiper of the hideous and blood soak kali and hindu goddess of destruction and be the bane of indian life for 6 century and ritualistically strangle up to 30 and 000 victim a year . in 1840 the british military and in cooperation with a number of princely state and succeed in ultimately suppress the religion . henceforth it would remain the stuff of novel and nightmare .