Gunga Din is the 1939 adventure film starring Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Directed by George Stevens for RKO Radio Pictures, the film follows three British sergeants serving in colonial India. Grant plays Sergeant Archibald Cutter, McLaglen plays Sergeant MacChesney, and Fairbanks Jr. plays Sergeant Ballantine. Sam Jaffe plays Gunga Din, a water bearer who hopes to become a soldier and ultimately proves his courage.
The story combines Rudyard Kipling’s 1890 poem “Gunga Din” with elements from his Soldiers Three stories. Its plot centers on the sergeants’ fight against a revived Thug cult, and the film mixes action, comedy, romance, and imperial adventure. The dramatic climax gives the title character a heroic sacrifice, although modern viewers often discuss the film’s colonial viewpoint and stereotyped representation of India.
Gunga Din was filmed largely in California, with locations including the Sierra Nevada and Alabama Hills standing in for the Khyber Pass. Grant and Fairbanks were originally associated with each other’s roles, but Grant switched to the more comic part of Cutter.