Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Executscan Expected more

Sharkflei Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

george karpouzas I saw the movie just after I had read the book and I realized that while some dialogue was copied verbatim, the end had been changed and the character played by Erol Flynn was given a greater role than in the book while the importance of some female characters that existed in the book was actually obliterated. Of course the movie cast the English as good and the Russians as bad as the book did and had all the trappings of the mythology of British imperialism as it would have been obvious in a book based on a Kipling novel.But the experience of watching it on screen was fine, since the movie had simplified some of the more esoteric meanderings of the book focusing on action or on the making a man- Kim- that is in character building, as the moral was that an essentially kind-hearted but mischievous oriental had to acquire the manners of an English gentleman-the role St Xavier's was preparing him for, and which he found difficult to follow-but at which he returned in the end through the guidance of the horse trader, a model of faith to the British. The role of he Lama was downplayed in the sense that the actions of his that the movie retained were only the ones that related with Kim's development as an individual and not the ones that had to do with his own spiritual quest. In the book, the Lama is just after Kim the second most important character while in the movie he is overshadowed by the horse trader played by Erol Flynn.Also importance is attached in the training Kim received in order to enter British Intelligence, an ambition that judging from the movie seemed to be what natives considered a crowning achievement. But still it is an enjoyable movie provided you agree with it's premises i.e. that the east is the playground of Westerners whose ways the natives would do well to emulate as Kim did or otherwise they would appear at best as well meaning but essentially exotic eccentrics as the Lama, or otherwise as dangerous criminals as all the opponent of British rule appeared in the film. The movie is really fun if you are a young westerner or someone who in latter life still retained this outlook but I suppose the same prerequisites apply to all Kipling's work- original or subject to adaptation.

Boba_Fett1138 This is a pretty disjointed 'late' adventure movie, that offers little excitement or even joy.If this is an adventure movie, then were is the fun and excitement of it all? The events presented in the movie really don't feel connected to each other. The movie has overall poor storytelling.The approach of telling the entire story from the viewpoint of a child and his 'holy man' also doesn't work in this movie. He gets from the one event and 'adventure' in the other too rapidly but without much action or excitement. It makes the movie at times feel like a 3 hour drag, even though the movie is only 113 minutes short. Too much is happening, too many characters are introduced that are not given a prominent enough role in the movie. Perhaps with more prominent roles for adults and better character treatment, the movie would had been better, more fun and perhaps also more exciting.Errol Flynn almost looked like a parody of his old self. He obviously gained weight, looked old in general and was drunk halve of the time as well, no doubt. Maybe if his character was written- and used more prominently in the movie, he would had been given opportunity to shine more, or at least make his character more interesting and likable in the movie. But real main character of the movie is a young Dean Stockwell as Kim(ball) O'Hara (So Errol Flynn fans beware!). He's really not bad, acting- or other wise but not quite good enough to carry the entire movie in his own. The movie makes the same mistakes as Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun".For most part the movie really looks like it was shot on the back-lot of a sound-stage. Some sets are cheap but above all too fake looking with too often also too fake looking backgrounds. Later on in the movie the movie begins featuring some real and nice looking locations but it's too little and too late to save the movie its entire visual style and atmosphere. The costumes and make-up effects are also quite poor looking for most of the time.It all in all made this movie a rather disappointing one. One would expect some more flair, excitement and better character treatment from an adventure movie staring Errol Flynn in it, even when it's a late one.If you want to see a good old fashioned adventure movie, pick a late '30's or early '40's one instead.5/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

edwagreen By 1950 Hollywood gave Dean Stockwell a lead role in a Rudyard Kipling story. Stockwell was a young teenager and after such films as "Gentleman's Agreement," and "Keys of the Kingdom," he deserved far better.The picture was a slow pacing film about a boy spying for the English, who anticipate a Russian invasion of India in the late 1800s.Stockwell is really Caucasian but pretends to be Indian so that he can avoid school. Orphaned, he is soon captured and made to go to school but during summer recess, it's time for espionage.Errol Flynn plays a horse trader in this nonsense who also works for British intelligence. Paul Lukas is a religious leader who walks away at the end. He must have thought that he was Moses.The Indian women in this mess talk like they're reading the script for the first time. An exciting part is when Thomas Gomez is thrown off a cliff. This is what should have been done to the writing.This film is living proof that pictures with star quality will fail when the writing is bad.

Lan Ledbetter When KIM came out (1950) I was 10 years old. I was fascinated with the intrigue of a boy like me getting involved in a spy situation. Dean Stockwell was 12 or 13 at the time. The film stuck so close to me over the years that I wrote about it later in high school and remember it well to this day some 54 years later.Yes, there is action but not the usual, now-a-days blood-and-guts for two hours. In between the chilling scenes were the spy intrigues of the British trying to hold on to their empire. It was easy to tell the good guys from the bad. I admired the skill of Stockwell then and still do. His career has spanned nearly 60 years now.Watch KIM -- again and again. I still get something new every time I see it.