Gunga Din

film by Stevens [1939]

Written by

Lee Pfeiffer

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Gunga Din, American action-adventure film, released in 1939, that was inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s famous 1892 poem of the same name.

The story traces the adventures of a trio of maverick British sergeants—Cutter (played by Cary Grant), MacChesney (Victor McLaglen), and Ballantine (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.)—in 19th-century colonial India. The sergeants are sent on an important mission to investigate an outpost that has had its telegraph lines cut. Among their group is an Indian water carrier named Gunga Din (Sam Jaffe), who dreams of becoming a British soldier. At the outpost their company is attacked by native thugs, members of a murderous religious sect. Later, Din leads the treasure-hunting Cutter to a golden-roofed temple, which turns out to be the cult’s shrine. Cutter is captured, and Din brings MacChesney and Ballantine to his rescue. However, the three find an ambush waiting for them at the shrine. They are captured and learn that the thugs are planning to attack their regiment when it inevitably comes in search of them. Din, wounded in a scuffle, heroically blows a bugle to warn the approaching British soldiers of the danger. He is shot and killed, but he is posthumously made a corporal. In the final sequence, the soldiers finally pay him a belated tribute as a colonel at Din’s funeral reads Kipling’s famous final lines to his poem:

Though I’ve belted you and flayed you,
By the living Gawd that made you
You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din!

Gunga Din was originally slated to be directed by Howard Hawks, but he was dropped from the project while working on Bringing Up Baby (1938). The film’s story was written by duo Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, who were known for their collaborations. The story was remade by director John Sturges (an uncredited film editor for Gunga Din) as the 1962 western Sergeants 3, starring the “Rat Pack” cast of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop, with Sammy Davis, Jr., playing the Gunga Din character, in this case a former slave by the name of Jonah Williams.