Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Maestro2016 (talk | contribs) at 01:56, 7 April 2022. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Jungle Book
Film poster
Directed byZoltan Korda
Screenplay byLaurence Stallings
Based onThe Jungle Book
1894 collections
by Rudyard Kipling
Produced byAlexander Korda
Starring
CinematographyLee Garmes
W. Howard Greene
Edited byWilliam Hornbeck
Music byMiklós Rózsa
Production
companies
Alexander Korda Films, Inc.
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • April 3, 1942 (1942-04-03)
Running time
108 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom
United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget£250,000[1]
Box officeest. $4.4 million (US/UK/FRA)
36 million tickets (US/USSR/FRA)
The Jungle Book

Jungle Book is a 1942 independent Technicolor action-adventure film by the Hungarian Korda brothers, based on a screenplay adaptation by Laurence Stallings of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (1894), about a wild boy who is kidnapped by villagers who are cruel to animals as they attempt to steal a dead king's cursed treasure. The film was directed by Zoltán Korda, produced by his brother Alexander and art directed by their younger brother Vincent. The film stars Sabu as Mowgli.

The cinematography was by Lee Garmes and W. Howard Greene and the music was by Miklós Rózsa. Because of the war, the British Korda brothers had moved their film making to Hollywood in 1940, and Jungle Book is one of the films they made during that Hollywood period.[2] The film was a major success at the box office.

Plot

In an Indian village, Buldeo, an elderly storyteller, is paid by a visiting British memsahib to tell a story of his youth.

As a younger man, he recalls his village being attacked by Shere Khan the tiger. The attack leads to the death of a man and the loss of the man's child. The child is adopted by wolves in the jungle and grows to be the wild youth Mowgli. Years later, Mowgli is captured by the villagers and taken in by his mother Messua, though she does not recognize him as her lost child. He learns to speak and tries to imitate the ways of men, as well as becomes friendly with Buldeo's daughter, Mahala. When Mowgli and Mahala explore the jungle, they discover a hidden chamber in a ruined palace, containing fabulous wealth. Warned by an aged cobra that the wealth brings death, they leave, but Mahala takes one coin as a memento. When Buldeo sees the coin, he tries to force Mowgli to tell him where the treasure is, but Mowgli refuses. Buldeo resolves to follow Mowgli to the site of the treasure.

Mowgli fights and kills Shere Khan, with some last minute help from Kaa, the python. As he is skinning the body, Buldeo arrives. He threatens Mowgli with a gun, but is attacked by Mowgli's friend Bagheera, the black panther. Buldeo becomes convinced that Bagheera is Mowgli himself, shape-shifted into panther form. He tells the villagers that Mowgli is a witch, as is his mother. Mowgli is chained up and threatened with death, but escapes with his mother's help. However, she and another villager who tries to defend her are tied up and themselves threatened with burning for witchcraft.

Mowgli is followed by the greedy Buldeo and two friends, a pandit and a barber, to the lost city. They find the treasure and leave for the village with as much as they can carry. When they stop for the night, the priest tries to steal the treasure and murders the barber when the barber wakes up. The priest tells Buldeo that the barber had attacked him and that he had killed in self-defense, but Buldeo knows better. The next day, the priest attacks Buldeo while his back is turned, but Buldeo knocks him into the swamp where he is killed by a crocodile. Mowgli tells Bagheera to chase Buldeo from the jungle, and Buldeo flees for his life, jettisoning the treasure.

Buldeo tries to murder Mowgli and destroy the jungle by starting a forest fire. The wind turns and the fire threatens the village. The villagers flee, but Mowgli's mother and her defender are trapped. Mowgli brings the elephants to the village and breaks open the building, escaping to the river with his mother, Mahala and other villagers. He is invited to follow them to a new life downriver, but refuses to leave the jungle, turning back to help animals trapped by the fire.

The scene returns to the present day, with the elderly Buldeo admitting that the jungle defeated his youthful dreams and destroyed his reputation. When asked how he escaped from the fire and what became of Mowgli and his daughter, Buldeo says that is another story.

Cast

Patricia O'Rourke and Sabu

Production

In 1940, the three Korda brothers left London for Hollywood, where two of their films that had begun production in the UK were completed: The Thief of Bagdad and That Hamilton Woman.

United Artists lent Alexander Korda $300,000 to finance the production of Jungle Book,[2] which was produced by the American company he set up for his Hollywood productions: Alexander Korda Films, Inc.

Laurence Stalling's adaptation was criticised for straying too far from the original, and the frequent disagreements between brothers Alexander and Zoltán did not help matters. Zoltán wanted an underplayed realistic story, while Alex favoured an exuberant fantasist epic. Alex, as always, got his way in the end.[2]

Reception

Box office

The film was a notable success at the box office.[4] In the United States, its 1942 release earned $1.3 million in rentals, making it one of United Artists' top three highest-grossing films at the time.[5] In total, the film grossed $3.3 million from approximately 12,222,000 ticket sales in the United States, equivalent to $115 million adjusted for inflation in 2021.[6] In the United Kingdom, its 1948 re-release earned £86,089[7] ($344,356).[8]

In France, it was one of the top ten highest-grossing films of 1946, drawing 5,084,962 admissions at the box office.[9] At an average late-1940s admission price of 50 francs,[10] this was equivalent to 254,248,100 francs ($727,088).[11] The film's combined gross from its US and France releases, and its UK re-release, was approximately an estimated $4.4.[12]

The film also sold 18.9 million box office tickets in the Soviet Union when it released there in 1944.[13] This adds up to approximately 36,206,962 tickets sold in the United States, Soviet Union and France.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a critical approval of 50%, based on 12 reviews, with an average rating 6.9/10.[14]

Awards

The film was nominated for four Academy Awards.[15][16]

Nominated

Soundtrack album

In 1943 the film's score, in a recording made directly from the soundtrack, was released on a 78-RPM record album with narration by Sabu, the film's star, added. It became the first commercial recording of a non-musical U.S. film's orchestral score to be released. The album was a success.[17][18]

Although the film is in the public domain, the master 35mm elements are with ITV Studios Global Entertainment. An official video release is currently available via The Criterion Collection.

See also

References

  1. ^ Karol Kulik, Alexander Korda: The Man Who Could Work Miracles, Virgin 1990 p 258
  2. ^ a b c BFI Screenonline: Jungle Book (1942) Retrieved 2013-01-05
  3. ^ a b "A MEL BLANC DISCOVERY". Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy. 2021-02-18. Retrieved 2021-02-20.
  4. ^ Balio, Tino (2009). United Artists: The Company Built by the Stars. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-23004-3. p172
  5. ^ "101 Pix Gross in Millions" Variety 6 Jan 1943 p 58
  6. ^ "The Jungle Book (1942) - Etats-Unis" [The Jungle Book (1942) - United States]. JP's Box-Office (in French). Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  7. ^ Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000
  8. ^ Todd, Mike. "Graph of £/$ exchange rate (1940 - today)". An American Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
  9. ^ French box office of 1946 at Box Office Story
  10. ^ Sadoul, Georges (1953). French Film. Falcon Press. p. 111. In 1949 the average price of admission was 50 francs (Is.).
  11. ^ "Pacific Exchange Rate Service" (PDF). UBC Sauder School of Business. University of British Columbia. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  12. ^ "Adjusting for Movie Ticket Price Inflation". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
  13. ^ "Jungle Book (1942)". Kinopoisk (in Russian). Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  14. ^ Jungle Book, retrieved 2018-11-03
  15. ^ "The 15th Academy Awards (1943) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2013-06-22.
  16. ^ "NY Times: Jungle Book". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-11-28. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
  17. ^ "The Ensemble Sospeso – Miklos Rozsa". Archived from the original on 19 April 2001.
  18. ^ "Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book (1942) - Articles - TCM.com". Turner Classic Movies.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jungle Book (1942 film).
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rudyard_Kipling%27s_Jungle_Book&oldid=1081369895"