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Director |
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Year |
1937 |
Country |
Sabu, Walter Hudd, Wilfrid Hyde White, W.E. Holloway, Allan Jeayes
Certificate |
U |
Length |
78 mins |
Label |
NWORK |
Format |
DVD B&W |
Region |
2 |
Aspect |
1.33:1 |
Cat No |
7952460 |
Main Language |
ENGLISH |
Elephant Boy, directed by Robert Flaherty (Nanook of the North) and Zoltan Korda, was made on the Maharajah of Mysore's private estate and he really did have a lot of wild elephants in their genuine unspoilt habitat. The restoration work on the film may be incomplete but, oh boy, the charm still works. Really this is two films for the price of one: a good solid Kipling story of empire – bad things happen but our hero's spirit triumphs over all – and a film of elephants which rivals modern natural history documentaries.
It was made in 1937, so most of the Indians are played by blacked-up white men and the dialogue is at times edgy to modern ears, but all characters are treated with dignity. This was Sabu's first film, he was a 12 year-old stable boy on the Mysore estate where Flaherty found him and cast him as Toomai, the elephant boy, and he is definitely the real thing. The white hunter is a model hero, the villain is really nasty and the wise old elephant is perfect.
The Jungle Book, again starring Sabu, was made in 1942 just after The Thief of Baghdad, and is here presented in a beautifully clean Technicolor print with wonderful wildlife scenes with real wild animals.
Alan Hunter on 9th June 2006
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