Jungle Book

Jungle Book is a 1942 independent Technicolor action-adventure film by the Korda brothers, loosely adapted from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (1894). The story centers on Mowgli, a feral young man who is kidnapped by villagers who are cruel to the jungle animals as they attempt to steal a dead king's cursed treasure. The film was directed by Zoltán Korda and produced by his brother Alexander, with the art direction done by their younger brother Vincent. The screenplay was written by Laurence Stallings. The film stars Sabu as Mowgli. Although the film is in the public domain, the master 35mm elements are with ITV Studios Global Entertainment. An official video release is currently available via The Criterion Collection. The cinematography was by Lee Garmes and W. Howard Greene and the music was by Miklós Rózsa. Because of World War II, the Korda brothers moved their filmmaking to Hollywood in 1940, and Jungle Book is one of the films they produced during that Hollywood period. The film was a commercial success at the box office. Plot In an Indian village, Buldeo, an elderly storyteller, is paid by a visiting British memsahib to tell a story of his youth. As a younger man, he recalls his village being attacked by Shere Khan the rogue tiger. The attack leads to the death of a man and the loss of the man's child. The child is adopted by grey wolves in the jungle and grows to be the wild youth Mowgli. Twelve years after, Mowgli is captured by the villagers and taken in by his mother Messua, despite Buldeo's prejudice towards him for being from the jungle. He learns to speak and tries to imitate the ways of humans, and becomes friendly with Buldeo's daughter, Mahala.