SYNOPSIS: Robert Flaherty and Zoltán Korda shared best director honors at the Venice Film Festival for this charming translation of Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book story “Toomai of the Elephants.” A harmonious mix of its two filmmakers’ styles—Flaherty’s adeptness at ethnographic documentary meeting Korda’s taste for grand adventure—Elephant Boy also served as the breakthrough showcase for the thirteen-year-old Sabu, whose beaming performance as a young mahout leading the British on an expedition made him a major international star.
| Toomai | Sabu |
| Father | W. E. Holloway |
| Petersen | Walter Hudd |
| Machua Appa | Allan Jeayes |
| Rham Lahl | Bruce Gordon |
| Hunter | D. J. Williams |
| Commissioner | Hyde White |
| Director | Robert Flaherty and Zoltán Korda |
| Producer | Alexander Korda |
| Based on “Toomai of the Elephants” by | Rudyard Kipling |
| Screenplay | John Collier |
| Screenplay collaboration | Akos Tolnay and Marcia De Silva |
| Cinematography | Osmond Borradaile |
| Editor | Charles Crichton |
| Original music by | John Greenwood |
| Musical director | Muir Matheson |
By November 29, 2011
It’s hard to imagine a movie role more perfectly suited to the actor playing it than Toomai in Elephant Boy (1937), the part that made Selar Shaik—known as Sabu—one of the least likely superstars . . . Read more »
December 14, 2011
“Viewers enchanted by The Thief of Bagdad will need little encouragement to sample more early film work by the remarkable actor Sabu,” writes Glenn Erickson for Turner Classic Movies. Read more »
