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Gunga Din (film)
''Gunga Din'' is a 1939 American adventure film from RKO Pictures, RKO Radio Pictures directed by George Stevens and starring Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., loosely based on the 1890 Gunga Din, poem of the same name by Rudyard Kipling combined with elements of his 1888 short story collection ''Soldiers Three''. The film is about three British sergeants and Gunga Din, their native Bhishti, ''bhisti'' (water bearer), who fight the Thuggee, an Indian murder cult, in colonial British Raj, British India. The supporting cast features Joan Fontaine, Eduardo Ciannelli, and in the title role, Sam Jaffe. The epic film was written by Joel Sayre and Fred Guiol from a storyline by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, with uncredited contributions by Lester Cohen, John Colton (screenwriter), John Colton, William Faulkner, Vincent Lawrence, Dudley Nichols, and Anthony Veiller. In 1999, ''Gunga Din'' was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Stevens
George Cooper Stevens (December 18, 1904 – March 8, 1975) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for ''A Place in the Sun (1951 film), A Place in the Sun'' (1951) and ''Giant (1956 film), Giant'' (1956). Born in Oakland, California, George Stevens worked in his parents' West Coast touring stock theater company as a child actor and stage manager. When cinema was replacing live theater, Stevens's parents relocated to Los Angeles. At the age of 17, Stevens was hired as an assistant cameraman, working on several Western film, Western films produced by Hal Roach. Within three years, Stevens became a cameraman on the ''Our Gang'' and Harry Langdon comedies. Impressed with Stevens's visual knowledge, Roach then appointed him to direct installments of ''The Boy Friends'' series. Stevens next moved to Universal Pictures and then to RKO Pictures. There, he directed several genre films, including ''Alice Ad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Language
English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples that Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, migrated to Britain after its End of Roman rule in Britain, Roman occupiers left. English is the list of languages by total number of speakers, most spoken language in the world, primarily due to the global influences of the former British Empire (succeeded by the Commonwealth of Nations) and the United States. English is the list of languages by number of native speakers, third-most spoken native language, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish language, Spanish; it is also the most widely learned second language in the world, with more second-language speakers than native speakers. English is either the official language or one of the official languages in list of countries and territories where English ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Library Of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law of the United States, copyright law through the United States Copyright Office, and it houses the Congressional Research Service. Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the oldest Cultural policy of the United States, federal cultural institution in the United States. It is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill, adjacent to the United States Capitol, along with the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia, and additional storage facilities at Fort Meade, Fort George G. Meade and Cabin Branch in Hyattsville, Maryland. The library's functions are overseen by the librarian of Congress, and its buildings are maintained by the architect of the Capitol. The LOC is one of the List of largest libraries, largest libra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Veiller
Anthony Veiller (23 June 1903 – 27 June 1965) was an American screenwriter and film producer. He wrote for 41 films between 1934 and 1964. Life and career Veiller was born on 23 June 1903 in New York City to playwright and screenwriter Bayard Veiller and English-born actress Margaret Wycherly. He moved to Hollywood in 1930. Veiller was twice nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay. In 1937, he co-wrote (with Morrie Ryskind) the screenplay for ''Stage Door'', starring Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers and Adolphe Menjou. This very loose adaptation of the play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Veiller was also Oscar-nominated for writing (with uncredited help from John Huston and Richard Brooks) ''The Killers'' (1946), an adaptation of the short story by Ernest Hemingway. The film introduced Burt Lancaster to filmgoers, and won an Edgar Award as best mystery film of 1946. In 2008, it was included in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dudley Nichols
Dudley Nichols (April 6, 1895 – January 4, 1960) was an American screenwriter and film director. He was the first person to decline an Academy Award, as part of a boycott to gain recognition for the Screen Writers Guild; he would later accept his Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1938. Biography Dudley Nichols was born April 6, 1895, in Wapakoneta, Ohio. He studied at the University of Michigan where he was active member of the Sigma chapter of Theta Xi fraternity. After working as a reporter for the '' New York World'', Nichols moved to Hollywood in 1929 and became one of the most highly regarded screenwriters of the 1930s and 1940s. He collaborated on many films over many years with director John Ford, and was also noted for his work with George Cukor, Howard Hawks, Fritz Lang and Jean Renoir. Nichols wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for films including '' Bringing Up Baby'' (1938), ''Stagecoach'' (1939), '' For Whom the Bell Tolls'' (1943), '' Scarlet Street ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for William Faulkner bibliography, his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in for Lafayette County, Mississippi, Lafayette County where he spent most of his life. A Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel laureate, Faulkner is one of the most celebrated writers of American literature, often considered the greatest writer of Southern United States literature, Southern literature and regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of the 20th century. Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi, and raised in Oxford, Mississippi. During World War I, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, but did not serve in combat. Returning to Oxford, he attended the University of Mississippi for three semesters before dropping out. He moved to New Orleans, where he wrote his first novel ''Soldiers' Pay'' (1925). He went back ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Colton (screenwriter)
John Colton (December 31, 1887 – December 26, 1946) was an American playwright and screenwriter born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He spent the first 14 years of his life in Japan where his English father was a diplomat. After returning to the US he soon worked for a Minneapolis newspaper. He is notable for adapting, with Clemence Randolph, Somerset Maugham's novella ''Rain'' into a 1922 smash hit play starring Jeanne Eagels. He wrote the original play, ''The Shanghai Gesture,'' produced on Broadway in 1926. He excelled at writing plays dealing with Americans in far-off lands, an experience Colton knew firsthand from his early youth in Japan. With these huge successes Colton was lured to Hollywood, primarily MGM, where he wrote intertitles for some silent films and scenarios for others. In the talking film era he wrote numerous screenplays. Three of his stage plays found motion picture production: ''Rain'' (1932); '' The Shanghai Gesture'' (1941); and, posthumously, '' Un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epic Film
Epic films have large scale, sweeping scope, and spectacle. The term is slightly ambiguous, sometimes designating a film genre and at other times simply big-budget films. Like epics in the classical literary sense, it is often focused on a heroic character. An epic's ambitious nature helps to set it apart from other genres such as the period piece or adventure film. Epic historical films would usually take a historical or a mythical event and add an extravagant setting, lavish costumes, an expansive musical score, and an ensemble cast, which would make them extremely expensive to produce. The most common subjects of epic films are royalty and important figures from various periods in world history. Characteristics The term "epic" originally came from the poetic genre exemplified by such works as the '' Epic of Gilgamesh'' and the works of the Trojan War Cycle. In classical literature, epics are considered works focused on deeds or journeys of heroes upon which the fate of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Raj
The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or direct rule in India. * Quote: "Mill, who was himself employed by the British East India company from the age of seventeen until the British government assumed direct rule over India in 1858." * * The region under British control was commonly called India in contemporaneous usage and included areas directly administered by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom, which were collectively called ''Presidencies and provinces of British India, British India'', and areas ruled by indigenous rulers, but under British British paramountcy, paramountcy, called the princely states. The region was sometimes called the Indian Empire, though not officially. As ''India'', it was a founding member of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thuggee
Thuggee (, ) was a network of organized crime in British Raj India in the 19th century of gangs that traversed the Indian subcontinent murdering and robbing people.Tracing India's cult of Thugs . 3 August 2003. ''Los Angeles Times''. A member of Thugee was referred to as a ''Thug''. The Thugs were purported to have murdered their victims by strangling using a as a tool. The Thugs were believed to practice their killings as a form of worship toward the goddess . For centuries, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bhishti
The Bhishti or Bahishti are a Muslim tribe or found in North India, Pakistan and Nepal. They are also known as Abbasi, Bahishti Abbasi, Sheikh Abbasi and Saqqa. They often use the surnames Abbasi or Sheikh Abbasi. Bhistis traditionally served as water-carriers. Origin According to documentary film maker Farha Khatun, some Bhistis claim that the first recorded Bhisti in history was Abbas ibn Ali who they refer to as " Hazrat Abbas". In 680 during the war being fought by Imam Husayn and his army in Damascus, Abbas died crossing the Furat river (Euphrates) to bring water to Husayn and his army. Abbas ibn Ali was son of the fourth Rashidun Caliph, Imam Ali. Ali was known for his bravery and devotion to Islam, which earned him numerous titles. One of them was 'Saqqa' or water-carrier, a honorific bestowed after the battle of Karbala in Iraq (680 CE), in which he sacrificed his life to fetch water for his half-brother Imam Hussain's children. The city of Lucknow is home to Da ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soldiers Three
''Soldiers Three'' is a collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling. The three soldiers of the title are Learoyd, Mulvaney and Ortheris, who had also appeared previously in the collection ''Plain Tales from the Hills''. The current version, dating from 1899 and more fully titled ''Soldiers Three and other stories'', consists of three sections which each had previously received separate publication in 1888; Learoyd, Mulvaney and Ortheris appear only in the first section, which is also titled ''Soldiers Three''. The books reveal a side of the British Tommy in Afghanistan rarely seen in the Twilight of the British Empire. The soldiers comment on their betters, act the fool, but cut straight to the rawness of war in central Asia as the British began to loosen their Imperial hold. Publication history The first publication of a collection of seven stories called ''Soldiers Three'' was as No 1 of A.H. Wheeler & Co.’s Indian Railway Library, a slim volume of 97 pages printed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
