Song of India

I'm in agreement with the other reviewer who says he can't tell Gail Russell from a woman who ostensibly replaced her. If that was Sabu's wife Harry Cohn must have cloned Gail Russell to finish the film.

Gail who had an exotic look to her and played many an exotic role is an Indian princess from newly freed India. A point was made of that during the film, nice they acknowledged contemporary events. She's betrothed to a neighboring prince Turhan Bey who has decided to break an ancient taboo and hunt in a forbidden jungle.

The local natives live in harmony with the animals and I assume are on Vegan diets. Also living in the village is the last descendant of the previous dynasty before Turhan Bey took over the kingdom and that would be Sabu.

Song Of India has a nice charm of its own. I recall seeing this film over 50 years ago as a lad and I have to say I was as captivated then as now. For a B picture the jungle footage was well integrated with the studio shot stuff.

Needless to say bad things start happening when Bey and his party enter Sabu's world. A dynastic power struggle that Bey never expected occurs with the prize a kingdom and the beautiful Gail Russell.

Sabu, Gail Russell, Turhan Bey, and Rimsky-Korsakoff make exciting music together in this rip-roaring Kiplingesque adventure. Marauding big cats, spectacular matte paintings, white-knuckle knife duels at the edge of bottomless mountain chasms, a sneering, villainous Bey, and a bare-foot, jungle prince-in-Pampers Sabu with a Bengal tiger as his best pal, reprising Mowgli in everything but name only, all add up to the stuff of kiddie matinee heaven.

Song of India was a TV mainstay when I was a kid. I loved it then, which undoubtedly accounts for my love for it to this day. Your mileage may vary, natch.

With Anthony Caruso, Ian Macdonald and Trevor Bardette as the least likely Indians this side of Richard Burton in The Rains of Ranchipur.

Obviously inspired by THE JUNGLE BOOK, SONG OF India is a reasonably fast-paced programmer which was apparently tailor-made for the long-extinct Saturday matinée market. Sabu is very much in his element playing a jungle prince who lords over the wild beasts, provoking the fury of Turhan Bey who leads a government-approved hunting expedition into the Indian wilderness. His fiancée', Gail Russell, is the daughter of the king who tags along as the hunting party's unofficial photographer and, predictably, switches her allegiance to Sabu as the characters of the two men are exposed.

The footage of marauding tigers, panthers, crocodiles, exotic birds etc. is often thrilling and is well-integrated into the action. Indeed, much of it seems shot exclusively for the film instead of the usual grainy library stock shots from another era which is the bane of many a cheap Hollywood jungle potboiler. The cast, including Sabu who probably could have played this kind of role in his sleep, is acceptable as is the script and direction.

Like most Columbia B-pictures of the forties, SONG OF India seems to be out of circulation although it was briefly released on video in an inferior, extended-play version. It's a diverting time-killer if you can find it.

I recently bought the Song Of India video from e-bay. I had heard that Sabu's wife replaced an ailing Gail Russell in the leading role (which was how they first met) however after watching the film, Sabu's wife is either a dead ringer for Gail Russell or they re shot the whole film when she was feeling better because that certainly looks like Gail Russell to me. So anyone know what happened there? I actually enjoyed the movie and though it is really very unsophisticated for todays audience I found that very fact to be what gave it that lovely nostalgic flavor. Gail Russell and Sabu are both of course gorgeous and Sabu's sweet personality actually gets to come across in this tale. He is nice and very polite even to the bad guy, right up to the very end that is. Deffenently a good movie for kids to watch. Janice K.

Sabu stars as 'Ramdar'...a young man who has a real way with animals. He takes it upon himself to protect the animals in the Indian jungle but when Prince Gopal (Turhan Bey) and his entourage arrive, Ramdar is worried for the animals. After all, Gopal has little regard for the creatures so Ramdar decides to kidnap Princess Tara (Gail Russell) and promises to return her if Gopal leaves the animals alone. But Gopal is in many ways like Gaston from "Beauty and the Beast"...he's just a jerk at heart. What's next?

While the film was made in sound stages, it used matte paintings quite well to create the jungle look. However, as I mentioned in the summary, there is an American alligator in one crucial scene. I am sure most folks won't notice--I live in a part of the country where they are common. Plus, they aren't as likely to hurt anyone as a crocodile. Overall, enjoyable and worth your time.