The Jungle Book (1942 film)
| Jungle Book | |
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Film poster
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| Directed by | Zoltan Korda |
| Produced by | Alexander Korda |
| Screenplay by | Laurence Stallings |
| Based on |
The Jungle Book 1894 collections by Rudyard Kipling |
| Starring | Sabu Dastagir |
| Music by | Miklós Rózsa |
| Cinematography |
Lee Garmes W. Howard Greene |
| Edited by | William Hornbeck |
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Production
company |
Alexander Korda Films, Inc.
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| Distributed by | United Artists |
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Release date
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Running time
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108 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | ₤250,000 |
| Box office | $1.3 million (US rentals) (1942 release) ₤86,089 (UK) (1948 re-release) 5,084,962 admissions (France, 1946) |
Jungle Book is a 1942 independent American Technicolor action-adventure film by the Hungarian Korda brothers, based on a screenplay adaptation by Laurence Stallings of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, about a wild boy who is kidnapped by villagers who are cruel to animals as they attempt to steal the jungle's lost treasure that possesses people.
The film was directed by Zoltán Korda, produced by his brother Alexander and art directed by their younger brother Vincent. The cinematography was by Lee Garmes and W. Howard Greene and the music was by Miklós Rózsa. The film starred Sabu Dastagir as Mowgli. 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.
In an Indian village, Buldeo, an elderly storyteller, is paid by a visiting British memsahib to tell a story of his youth. He speaks of the animals of the jungle and of the ever-present threats to human life posed by the jungle itself. He then recalls his earlier life:
As a younger man he dreams that his village could one day become an important town and that the jungle could be conquered. However, when he is speaking about these dreams, an attack by Shere Khan, the tiger, 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 – much to Buldeo's distress, since he is convinced that the wild Mowgli is dangerous. 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.
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