Jungle Book (1942)

A boy raised by wolves tries to adapt to human village life.

Director:

Zoltan Korda

Writer:

Laurence Stallings (adaptation)

Stars:

Sabu, Joseph Calleia, John Qualen

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Sabu	...	Mowgli
Joseph Calleia	...	Buldeo
John Qualen	...	The Barber
Frank Puglia	...	The Pundit
Rosemary DeCamp	...	Messua (as Rosemary De Camp)
Patricia O'Rourke	...	Mahala
Ralph Byrd	...	Durga
John Mather	...	Rao
Faith Brook	...	English Girl
Noble Johnson	...	Sikh
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bagheera	...	The Panther

Storyline

Teenaged Mowgli, who was raised by wolves, appears in a village in India and is adopted by Messua. Mowgli learns human language and some human ways quickly, though keeping jungle ideas. Influential Merchant Buldeo is bigoted against 'beasts' including Mowgli; not so Buldeo's pretty daughter, whom Mowgli takes on a jungle tour where they find a treasure, setting the evil of human greed in motion.

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Plot Keywords:

india | wild boy | animal human communication | surrogate family | treasure | 

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Taglines:

MOWGLI, HALF-BOY, HALF WOLF . . . armed only with a knife and the love of a girl, meets the challenge of Shere Khan, the Killer Tiger!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Family

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 April 1942 (USA)

Also Known As:

Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book

Filming Locations:

Sherwood Forest, Lake Sherwood, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alexander Korda Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min 102 min (restored)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Merian C. Cooper did considerable preproduction work but it was abandoned when he decided to re-enlist in the armed forces in June 1941.

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Goofs

Two scenes with the black panther were obviously shot with the panther behind a glass screen, likely as a safeguard to protect the actors. In both scenes, showing close-ups of the panther, debris is seen adhering to the glass.

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Quotes

Buldeo: We're going to have a marketplace, and a temple, and a mighty city. Aye, we'll have all that if we can beat the jungle. But have you in your hundred years seen man win a war with nature?

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Connections

Version of Jungleboek (1992)

User Reviews

Kipling & Korda

Reared in the Indian Jungle, a young man must learn to live amongst the most rapacious of Nature's creatures, Man.

Sir Alexander Korda's splendid film uses Kipling's book as a launching pad to tell Mowgli's story after he left his animal friends. It is told with great verve and excitement and its evocative views of the great jungle and the Lost City, as locations for Mowgli's further adventures, revealed in vibrant Technicolor, are an indication of the excellent production values lavished to make the story come alive.

As teen-aged Mowgli, Indian actor Sabu couldn't be more perfect. Whether as the Wild Boy who first enters the village, or, later, as the completely competent young man who ferrets out the secret of the Lost City's treasure, fights the tiger Shere Khan and communes with deadly snakes, elephants & wolves, he is completely believable. Kipling would have been proud.

Rosemary DeCamp is a quiet delight as Mowgli's gentle mother, her scenes with Sabu are most effective and tender. John Qualen, Frank Puglia, and especially Joseph Calleia, all score as the members of the man-village who want to see Mowgli destroyed. Playing his character as an old man, Calleia also bookends the film as its storyteller, using his somber demeanor to add to the mystery of the plot. That's Silent star Noble Johnson as the Sikh whose female companion encourages the telling of the tale.

Born Sabu Dastagir in 1924, Sabu was employed in the Maharaja of Mysore's stables when he was discovered by Korda's company and set before the cameras. His first four films (ELEPHANT BOY-1937, THE DRUM-1938, THE THIEF OF BAGDAD-1940, JUNGLE BOOK-1942) were his best and he found himself working out of Hollywood when they were completed. After distinguished military service in World War II he resumed his film career, but he became endlessly confined for years playing ethnic roles in undistinguished minor films, BLACK NARCISSUS (1947) being the one great exception. His final movie, Walt Disney's A TIGER WALKS (1964) was an improvement, but it was too late. Sabu had died of a heart attack in late 1963, only 39 years of age.