moonspinner55 Review of Jungle Book

Jungle Book (1942)

Korda's film has flashes of beauty, but this adaptation is a bit over-stretched...

[6/10 · 16 October 2007]

Rudyard Kipling's classic story of an infant boy in India stolen from his mother and later raised by wolves in the jungle is given colorfully cinematic treatment from the Korda Brothers, who skimp quite a bit on Baloo the Bear but give us lots of other fanciful things: talking snakes, a cursed fortune of gold, a forest fire, and villainous human characters more deadly than just about any of the animals. Sabu has the lead, and though Mowgli grows up in one quick cut from the film-editor (and learns the English language nearly as quickly!), Sabu provides a sturdy, confident center for the picture and nearly holds the narrative together. The cinematography is occasionally beautiful, though the choppiness of the continuity (and the repetitive shots of tiger Shere Khan) keeps the movie from really blooming. Too much of the mid-section follows three would-be thieves in and out of the jungle, and I felt bad for the monkeys in the Lost City (we never see them escape the fire, and indeed hear their howls over a shot of the ruins). Still, "Jungle Book" is visually impressive and mostly entertaining if you're not too demanding. **1/2 from ****