Elephant Boy

Watch: Elephant Boy

4/5/19371h 22m

Theatrical Release (US)

Overview:

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

Director:

Zoltan Korda

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

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

Cast

Sabu

~ as ~

Toomai

W.E. Holloway

~ as ~

Toomai's Father

Walter Hudd

~ as ~

Petersen

Allan Jeayes

~ as ~

Machua Appa

Bruce Gordon

~ as ~

Rham Lahl

D.J. Williams

~ as ~

Hunter

Wilfrid Hyde-White

~ as ~

Commissioner

Iravatha

~ as ~

Kala Nag (uncredited)

Harry Lane

~ as ~

Bit Part (uncredited)

Udham Singh

~ as ~

Man in Crowd (uncredited)

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

CinemaSerf
Written 3 year(s) ago
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.