Kim **** (1950, Errol Flynn, Dean Stockwell, Paul Lukas, Robert Douglas, Thomas Gomez, Cecil Kellaway) – Classic Movie Review 11,171

MGM’s 1950 Technicolor film Kim is a spectacular adventure classic based on Rudyard Kipling’s novel about an orphan boy (Dean Stockwell), recruited as a spy by the British for derring-do in 1880s India.

Director Victor Saville’s 1950 MGM Technicolor film Kim is a spectacular adventure classic based on the classic 1901 Rudyard Kipling novel about an orphan boy Kim, aka Kimball O’Hara Jr (Dean Stockwell), recruited as a spy by the British for derring-do in 1880s India, where he helps to expose a Russian plot to grab hold of the country.

Kim is lit up by a delightful performance by the winsome 12-year-old Stockwell and lively ones from an older but still capable Errol Flynn as Mahbub Ali The Red Beard and Paul Lukas as the Lama, along with engaging turns from a notable MGM support cast.

MGM studios conjure up an expensive-looking Technicolor production, with lovely cinematography by William V Skall and beautiful Indian location shooting, which gives the film an impressive scope and sweep, as well as a feeling of authenticity.

Also in the cast are Robert Douglas, Thomas Gomez, Cecil Kellaway, Arnold Moss, Reginald Owen, Laurette Luez, Richard Hale, Roman Toporow, Ivan Triesault, Wilson Wood, Mike Tellegen, Hayden Rorke, Frank Richards, Danny Rees, Rodd Redwing, Stanley Price, Jeanette Nolan, Movita, Henry Mirelez, Lal Chand Mehra, Francis McDonald, Keith McConnell, Donna Martell, Peter Mamakos, Richard Lupino, Mitchell Lewis, Edgar Lansbury, Frank Lackteen, Lou Krugman, Walter Kingsford, George Khoury, Olaf Hytten, Robin Hughes, Adeline de Walt Reynolds, Bette Daniels, Henry Corden, Wallis Clark, Hamilton Camp, Bobby Barber, and Michael Ansara.

It is shot at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, 10202 W Washington Blvd, Culver City, California; Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California; and Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, and at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, and Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, with second unit exteriors using body doubles.

It was remade for TV as Kim by John Davies in 1984 with Peter O’Toole, Bryan Brown and Ravi Sheth.

Indian location shots from Kim were reused in MGM’s 1951 film Soldiers Three.

Dean Stockwell died of natural causes in New Zealand on 7 November 2021, aged 85. Stockwell was an ‘avowed environmentalist’ who campaigned for the Democratic Party in the 1992 US presidential election.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,171

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