Kim, the Movie (1950)

Every few years I have to read Rudyard Kipling’s Kim. With my having subscribed recently to Netflix I was thinking of movies I wanted to put in my queue. One of them was Kim. The other day I sat down to watch Errol Flynn and Dean Stockwell play out their part in The Great Game. This not-so-subtle battle over influence in Afghanistan and Tibet has fascinated me for a long time. I must have seen this film when I was a young man but I don’t recall doing so. With a bowl of popcorn and this movie I had a wonderful time. No movie can duplicate the book. This one gave some scenes from the book short shrift but for the most part stayed pretty close. This 1950 version had Hurree Chunder, played by Cecil Kellaway, killed off rather too soon so that Kim could play an important part with the Russians in the mountains. Exciting stuff, but not as in the book. One of my favorite scenes is when Kim is sent to Lurgan Sahib (Arnold Moss) to train his memory. That actor, Moss, had a wonderful deep voice. That scene was pretty accurate. Paul Lukas played the Tibetan Lama for whom Kim becomes his chela. I enjoyed the movie immensely and just may have to buy a copy for myself.