Kim Part II

Just a few brief thoughts …

Watched the DVD of Kim last week in two viewings. As expected, not nearly as good as the book, but above average for a movie. It was made in 1950, so the film is vividly bright, with character actors glamming and hamming it up as Indians. Sets are big and extravagant and with all the costumes thrust you into a different time and culture, just what you’d expect from 1950’s Hollywood.

The lama is downplayed while Mahbub Ali, known in the movie as “Red Beard” and played by Errol Flynn, is emphasized, as is the “espionage” part of the story. Several characters die at the end of the flick (no one dies in the book), including a rather gruesome end for a fat Asian baddie who’s nastily trying to get information out of Kim. Intense for “a great family adventure” as the DVD cover exclaims; I had to make light of the whole scene for my daughter’s benefit, who watched it with me. Kim is cast well and well-acted for that time period by Dean Stockwell, while Flynn, who can pass for an Indian about as well as I can, is distracting but jovial. The lama and the spiritual end of the tale gets short shrift, and that’s a crime, though I did like the imagery surrounding the old master near the end of the movie.

A good watch if you’re into these types of classic movies. Remade today it would be a travesty. But read the book, if you have a choice and are of a mind to do so.