Film Snail

Elephant Boy
Elephant Boy

6.6

Elephant Boy

NR·1937·82m

Summary

In India, Toomai, a young mahout, helps lead the British on a large expedition to round up wild elephants.

Crew

Director

Robert Flaherty

Director

Zoltan Korda

Screenplay

John Collier

Script Editor

Lajos Biró

Story

Rudyard Kipling

Reviews

Geronimo1967

Geronimo1967

June 20, 2022

6

This has something of a documentary about it as Sabu portrays the young "Toomai" - the "Elephant Boy" based on the Rudyard Kipling story published in 1893. When an elephant goes on the rampage, only the young boy - the son and grandson of a mahout - can calm it down and in so doing attracts the attention of the leader of a hunting party "Petersen" (Walter Hudd) who agrees to take him on a hunt. What now ensues is a series of adventures that cause the boy to grow up quickly - and sometimes quite harshly. It's one of those films that rather glorifies the Raj and objectifies the local population, but having been filmed on the private reserve of the Maharajah of Mysore, the photography and authenticity of the story helps give it extra credence that, perhaps, the rather banal dialogue compromises. Sabu used to be the Maharajah's stable boy, so if nothing else the film serves as an excellent springboard for this charming and engaging young actor to get to Hollywood. Interestingly ironic that is was nominated for the "Mussolini Cup" in 1937.... I would not call this an exciting film to watch but it is - of it's time - an interesting one.

Media

No Videos to show.

Status:

Released

Original Language:

English

Budget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Keywords

elephant
expedition
human animal relationship
jungle
india
based on short story
herd
roundup
child protagonist
mahout
asian elephant