Kim (1950)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Victor Saville

Writers:

Leon Gordon (screenplay) and
Helen Deutsch (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

26 January 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Family

Tagline:

M-G-M Presents One Of The Year's Biggest!

Plot:

Kim, a young boy living on his own on the streets of India, is actually the son of a British officer...

Plot Keywords:

India | Spy | Lama | Goat | Cobra

Cast

Errol Flynn	...	Mahbub Ali, the Red Beard
Dean Stockwell	...	Kim
Paul Lukas	...	Lama
Robert Douglas	...	Colonel Creighton
Thomas Gomez	...	Emissary
Cecil Kellaway	...	Hurree Chunder
Arnold Moss	...	Lurgan Sahib
Reginald Owen	...	Father Victor
Laurette Luez	...	Laluli
Richard Hale	...	Hassan Bey - Narrator
Roman Toporow	...	Russian
Ivan Triesault	...	Russian

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

UK:U | USA:Passed | USA:Approved (PCA #14535) (original rating) | USA:G (re-rating) (1971) | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Originally bought as a property for Freddie Bartholomew in 1938. Production was so far under way (including Bartholomew posing with Indian elephants for newsreel cameras), that the project was eventually abandoned to save costs.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Kim is being pulled back up from the cliff ledge, safety wire is visible.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Arrebato (1980)

Soundtrack:

D'Ye Ken John Peel?

Stands up surprisingly well after 52 years

I watched this film on Turner Classics as I had been entranced by it as a child, and wanted to see how it stood up to today's expectations. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that it was a rolicking good adventure yarn, that would be an ideal film for the family to watch together after a holiday dinner. As I had a tape of the TV version, with Peter O'Tool as the Llama, I was able to compare the two, which is why I felt that the 1950 version has worn well.

The colour is excellent, the acting is very good, and the locations shots in India lend a great deal of authenticity to the production. I realise that many of today's audience will find the lack of sex and violence make for a tedious film, but it is precisely the lack of obvious sex and violence, it is implied rather than overt, which makes for a good family film. In fact it was a relief to see a film that did not include the obligatory chase and fisticuffs that we have seen in every film and TV series in the last 50 years.