Monday, June 06, 2005

Gunga Din

We watched this movie tonight, and even though I'd already seen it at least five or six times, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. This is one that really holds up. The pace is a little slow at times, especially for somebody used to modern movies. On the other hand, the action scenes are well staged and photographed so that you can actually tell what's going on (as opposed to the close-up, quick-cut, confusing action scenes common in today's films). My daughter Joanna is becoming a Cary Grant fan (although she likes him better in comedies and romances), and she allowed that GUNGA DIN is a pretty good movie. I think Grant is great in this one, as are Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Sam Jaffe. This is still one of my all-time favorites and a grand adventure movie.

1 comment:

Juri said...

I think the confusing action scenes in the modern (or postmodern, actually) action movies are there because the directors and editors don't know anymore how to stage scenes. Someone could say that the real life battles don't resemble a choreographed scenes in the movies, but hey, if we really wanted real-life battles, we would get into a fight in a bar... By the way, one of the best-edited fight scenes are in Don Siegel's "Hell Is For Heroes" from the early sixties. Check it out.