A British drama directed by Zoltan Korda and Produced by Alexander Korda.
A British military/government leader rules wisely over the tribes of Africa. When he is replaced, conflict occurs, but he returns. The main African chief says that he has learned much from this man.
Not so great. The plot was almost interesting, but the characters were severely lacking in depth. The video was decent at best. There were some compositing scenes and I don't know how they did that in 1935. The audio sucked donkey nards. The dialogue was really quiet and the soundtrack was not to my liking. More on that in a sec. The believability was absolutely zero. AS IF the African war song was in a Jew Hollywood style and ALL the Africans AND ANIMALS could understand Morse code? Oh my fucking god! It "buggers belief" to quote David Icke. On the plus side, Female Anatomy Points for this African dancer (picture). Overall, a piece of crap. Only watch this to mock it. I rate it bad.
An American war film directed by Zoltan Korda, starring Humphrey Bogart, Bruce Bennett, Lloyd Bridges and J. Carrol Naish.
An American tank team are in the Sahara desert during WWII. They pick up other survivors lost in the sands and make their way to a fort. The Nazis find them at the fort and there is a conflict.
This was not bad. The plot almost held my attention and they tried their best to differentiate the characters. Most of them had some back-story or developed in some way. The video style was relatively clear, but black and white. I could see what was going on and didn't find any bad editing. The audio was mid-high range biased. A little honky and a little over-trebled. Overall, not bad. I rate it tolerable.
A British war film directed by Zoltan Korda.
A British soldier assigned to India resigns, but feels like a coward for doing so. His army buddies send him white feathers to signify this "coward status" and he sets out to prove them wrong.
This was not so great. The plot barely held my attention. The three main characters were developed fully though. We've already been over how I like oversaturated technicolor video and the audio was similar to The Drum (1938). It was cranked to distortion levels and again ended in blown-out gunfire. There was a running joke with an old man telling a repeated story at the dinner table and using food to represent people (picture). Overall, not so hot. I rate this poor. You might not want to watch it.
A British war film directed by Zoltan Korda, starring Sabu Dastagir.
A young prince in India tries to help British soldiers who are being tricked and led into a trap.
Sabu brings such life and energy to the screen. Unfortunately, that is the only positive point for this film. The plot was murky and failed to hold my attention. There were two good characters: Sabu and the drummer boy. Everyone else was extras. I really like the technicolor video, as I have previously stated. The audio was not bad, but definitely not good. I could hear everything because it was all turned up, bordering on distortion. This is what made the final scenes so difficult for me. Here we are with cranked audio breaking up and what happens? Massive barrages of gunfire! DFYTYXSTJHRSXXRT!!!!! AAAAAAAHHH!!! TDTURSATEZHILFTYSDTHVFS!!!!! It was pretty bad. Overall, you would be much better off watching Jungle Book or The Thief of Bagdad to get your Sabu fix. I rate this poor.
A British fantasy adventure directed by Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger, Tim Whelan, Alexander Korda, Zoltan Korda and William Cameron Menzies, starring Sabu.
A dethroned king and a young thief have adventures while saving the kingdom from a corrupt vizier and rescuing the princess.
The version of this film that I saw did NOT look like it was made in 1940. It was, however, the correct film starring Sabu. The video looked like it had been restored or augmented in some way because the colors were bright and the definition extremely clear in most scenes. The scenes that didn't look so great featured special effects like the flying horse or the genie. In these scenes, you can see the air around a character where they had been cut from a different shot and pasted onto another. The plot and characters were definitely interesting and the film had super-massive loads of style. The pacing was just about right because nothing seemed rushed or took overly long. I thought that the entertainment value was quite good because I like the fantasy genre in general. I'm rating it good and it's a keeper.
A British Indian American adventure film directed by Zoltan Korda, starring Sabu Dastagir.
A boy is raised by wolves before entering human society. He learns good morals and how to speak with all the animals. This is seen as bad and exploited by the humans around him.
The production value may be low, but everything else was sky high. The characters were memorable, the plot lured the viewer in and style went to town on this one. It was identifiable at any point in it's duration as this film. I can't express in words how much that means. The actor that played Mowgli reminded me of Tony Jaa. Camera-work was done correctly. Lighting was right. Acting was on time and convincing. Some may try to down-play a public domain film, but this is the diamond in the rough. It was presented ever so clearly and with style. I mention style again because most films don't have it. Who in 1942 could make a good scene with 2 actors talking to a snake in color? These fuckin' people right here, that's who! I'm rating it best because it's epic and it pre-dates any other epic film. I wish I had more thumbs to put up for this! This is what I'm looking for: the diamond in the rough.
