Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

classicsoncall When I was a kid (back in the Fifties), I loved anything to do with wild animals, especially my favorites, the big jungle cats. So a picture like this was right up my alley. Oddly, today was the first time I've ever watched "Jungle Book" uninterrupted from start to finish. What I recall of the picture was from my Saturday mornings watching 'Andy's Gang' where it was serialized, and even today the version I watched had those identifiable breaks in the story where a new chapter would take place.Even so, I recall so many years later the names of the more prominent animal characters - Shere Khan the Tiger, Kaa the Python and Bagheera the Panther. I'm surprised the film credits don't list Mowgli's adoptive parents, the wolves Akela and Raksha, even though the wolves have more screen time than some of the others like Hathi the Elephant and the almost invisible Baloo the Bear. The Disney version would have to rectify that.Others reviewing the film on this board appear to rave about the picture's early use of the color format but watching today I can't really concur. It's not anywhere near as vibrant as the same era's "The Adventures of Robin Hood' (1938) or the following year's "The Wizard of Oz". Granted, not the same budget obviously so I guess you can give it some slack. The technical effects for the time were fairly well done I thought, what with those talking snakes and all.For his part, Sabu was quite the accomplished non-actor after having been discovered by the Korda's in the late 1930's. He quite obviously looks the part of the young but principled savage who grows up simultaneously in dual worlds of Man and the Jungle. His disillusionment with the 'civilized' world along with the trio of greedy Indian merchants was strongly reminiscent of the central characters in 1948's "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", and if you watch closely, his vine swing with Mahala (Patricia O'Rourke) looked like it was carbon-copied by those two young actors in the very first "Star Wars" film - you know who I mean.

ma-cortes Based on Rudyard Kipling's known classic , it concerns about a little boy named Mowgli (Sabu). He's living in an Indian village with his warmhearted mum (Rosemary DeCamp). But he's lost and raised by a wolf pack . Along the way he encounters a variety of jungle animals , including a complete menagerie , such as the ferocious black panther named Bagheera , the evil tiger named Shere Khan , the Croc , the bear, elephant , monkeys... Mowgli stays among his animals friends . He takes on a jungle journey and knows the location of a hidden treasure ; then three of the village men (Joseph Calleia, John Qualen, Puglia) follow him and many adventures ensue .This lavish version of the great classic displays adventures, fantasy , exotic atmosphere , and breathtaking scenarios . This is the first acting to the young Indian actor named Sabu , he followed a Hollywood 's successful career : ¨The thief of Bagdad, Elephant boy and Arabian nights¨ . Rudyard Kipling's two Jungle Book anthologies comprise fifteen stories, four of which were used is this film: "Mowgli's Brothers," "How Fear Came ," "Tiger! Tiger!," and "The King's Colorful cinematography by Howard Greene and Lee Garmes in shimmer Technicolor with matte shots that make some landscapes look like they were added with magic markers . Exotic and oriental musical score by the great master Miklos Rozsa . It was the first film for which original soundtrack recordings were issued . This big budgeted movie is well made by Korda family . Vincent Korda created the impressive sets , Zoltan Korda directed brilliantly this familiar story and magnificent production by Alexander Korda . A must see for children of all ages. Adults will find the picture a little boring , but the younger to be amused.Other adaptations about the vintage tale are the followings : the Walt Disney animated classic version by Wolfgang Reithman (1969) and its sequel (2005) , and in the 90s , a beautifully and enchanting filmed version , live-action by Stephen Sommers with Jason Scott Lee, Lena Headley and Sam Neill .

Neil Doyle Although THE JUNGLE BOOK seems to limp along at a slow pace, it catches the eye with its splendid Technicolor photography of lush forests, a brilliantly staged forest fire and the "Lost City" where hidden treasure drives men to greed and destruction. Close-ups of the jungle animals are beautifully shot and all of their scenes are well staged.As Mowgli, the boy raised by wolves, SABU has the fierce looks of a wolf-child, although he does learn to converse in English awfully soon, thanks to some choppy editing continuity. ROSEMARY DeCAMP is his mother, beaming at him with adoration and accepting the fact at the end that he must return to the forest kingdom where he rules rather than stay with man.Joseph CALLEIA is terrific as one of the greedy pursuers of gold, marking Sabu's trail so he can find "The Lost City." JOHN QUALEN too is excellent in another supporting role.Miklos Rozsa's music is not given sufficient strength on the soundtrack, muffled behind all of the dialog and jungle sounds, so it doesn't get its due despite some good orchestrations. It sounds better on recorded excerpts from the film.A fantasy from my childhood that doesn't register as strongly as it did back then but still manages to hold the interest with its visually arresting sets created by Vincent Korda. TCM is showing a better Technicolor print of the film than was released in the Public Domain version years ago, which was nominated for four Oscars including one for its color cinematography.

Space_Mafune A young child wanders off into the woods and is lost. With the dangerous, bloodthirsty tiger Shere Khan lurking about, the little boy is adopted by wolves and raised in the jungle. Later embroiled in a jungle feud with Shere Khan, the partly grown boy is driven out of the jungle back into the world of man where he seeks a tooth (a knife) with which he can once and for all strike down his arch nemesis. However the world of man offers many unseen dangers and man isn't inclined to follow those laws of the jungle to which the animals abide.Personally I feel this is the best adaptation of the "Jungle Book" Rudyard Kipling story put to film. I prefer this over the Disney versions because it never fully loses sight of its overall message, doesn't fail to show the key differences between man and beast, and isn't bogged down by comedy or musical distraction. It's also fun and adventurous, boasts real animals in the familiar roles who give surprisingly believable performances. Lead Sabu as Mowgli is a natural to the role while character actor Joseph Calleia does quite well as lead villain Buldeo. Calleia made quite a career out of playing such roles. By far the silliest moments here have got to be the result of the talking snakes with the human voices. They are the only critters in the film to talk in such a fashion. While the information they relay is vital to the plot of the movie, I'm not sure we really needed to actually hear it spoken aloud. Also the romantic subplot doesn't quite fit in the story either and that it's introduced and never resolved is somewhat disappointing. Still at the end of the day, you want jungle adventure excitement done right, you won't go wrong with 1942's Jungle Book.