Kim

The British Raj era of India is one that shows up a lot in the movies in part because it's a ripe source for action and adventure (never mind what Indians of today think of the portrayals), thanks in no small part to the writings of Rudyard Kipling. An excellent example of a movie that fits into this genre is, unsurprisingly, one based on a Kipling novel, Kim.

The movie is set in the 1880s, a time when Britain ruled India with the help of a lot of local bigwigs. Beyond India was the Khyber Pass in the northwest leading to Afghanistan, and beyond that Russian central Asia. Britain was constantly worried about the idea that Russia was trying to gain access to a warm-water port, and agitating rebellious locals to bog the British down to that end. Indeed, the Russians figure into the movie's finale.

But the story is really about Kim (Dean Stockwell). Kim, as we leater learn, is really Kimball O'Hara, son of an Anglo-Irish soldier who served in Europe up until his death. Mom died in childbirth, and somehow there's no other family to take care of Kim and the British army was unable or unwilling to do anything. So Kim, having been left an orphan, darkens his skin and passes himself off as a begging urchin. But his excellent knowledge of English enables him to move in British circles as well. Kim is a bit of a friend to Mahbub Ali (Errol Flynn, top-billed although Stockwell is the star here), who has information about the Russians that he wants passed to the British army in the person of Col. Creighton (Robert Douglas).

To get that information to Creighton, Ali has Kim fall in with a lama (Paul Lukas) who is liable to be unsuspected and so can travel freely. However, along the way Kim sees a regimental flag that he believes is an important sign, so he goes into the British encampment. The Brits capture him, which is where they find his birth certificate and so learn of his provenance. They send him to a prestigious boarding school for the sons of the British. But he's not quite happy there. And, because of his past, it's determined by the military that he could be trained to be a spy. Since he's already shown he can pass as a local, and because he's an adolescent urchin, who's going to suspect him, just like the lama?

Kim's undergoes a lot of training, and then gets sent on his first assignment, which is to go to a village in the northwest and find out from a local there named Chunder (Cecil Kellaway) what he's learned about the Russians in the area. They're officially there to survey the Khyber Pass, but it's obvious to the British that in fact they're using surveying as a cover for spying. Kim goes there, and finds... Chunder has been killed. Kim's instructions were to get the information from Chunder and bring it back, but with Chunder dead and his place ransacked, there's no intelligence to deliver to Creighton. Kim more or less violates orders to head to the Khyber Pass himself to complete the mission. Somehow, his old lama and Mahbub Ali have also made their way there.

Kim is the sort of movie that adolescent boys are going to love. It's got exactly the right mix of adventure and daring-do that will appeal to just that demographic. For everybody else, well, it's not a bad movie, although it could have been a bit more tightly edited. Stockwell does well with his role. All the Hollywood types playing Indian do as well as they can, and boys of the target age aren't going to care about the racial inaccuracies. A fair bit of location work for the establishing shots was done in the newly independent India, which adds to the quality cinematography. On the other hand, experienced viewers will notice the projection photography; younger viewers probably won't care.

Ultimately, Kim stands the test of time as a great example of the sort of action movie Hollywood could make in the decade after the end of World War II.