Release Date: Nov. 29, 2011
Price: DVD
Studio: Criterion
The young Indian actor Sabu is featured in Criterion's latest Eclipse Series installment.
Eclipse Series 30: Sabu! focuses on the films of the the Indian actor known as Sabu (born Selar Shaik), who, in the 1930s and 1940s, captured the hearts of moviegoers in Britain and the United States as a completely new kind of big-screen icon.
Sabu was a maharaja’s elephant driver when he was discovered by documentary trailblazer Robert Flaherty (Nanook of the North). Flaherty cast Sabu as the lead in Elephant Boy, a Rudyard Kipling
Sabu went on to headline a series of classic fantasie films and adventures, transcending the exoticism projected onto him by commanding the screen with effortless grace and humor.
The Eclipse DVD collects three of the lavish movies that Sabu starred in for the British film titans the Korda brothers:
Elephant Boy (1937)
Robert Flaherty and Zoltán Korda shared best director honors at the Venice Film Festival for collaborating on this charming translation of Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book story “Toomai of the Elephants.” This film served as the breakthrough showcase for 13-year-old Sabu, whose performance as a young mahout leading the British on an expedition made him an international star.
The Drum (1938)
Zoltán Korda’s Technicolor adaptation of a novel
Jungle Book (1942)
This Korda brothers shimmering Technicolor film is the quintessential version of Rudyard Kipling’s classic collection of fables. Sabu stars as Mowgli, a boy raised by wolves who can communicate with all the beasts of the jungle, friend or foe, and who gradually re-acclimates to civilization with the help of his long lost mother and a beautiful village girl.
There are no bonus features in the Sabu! DVD collection, as is generally the case with titles in Criterion’s Eclipse series.
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I am delighted to read that you are releasing this “Sabu” box set. Hearing that The Four Feathers is also coming out in Blueray is icing on the cake. I sure wish some reputable company would do the same for the following Belmondo classics – Stavisky and Le Miserables (with sub-titles). I’ll keep watching for them. I Have approx 70 or 75 Criterion titles several of which have been re-released in BR. Anyway, the original criterion releases are quite good so *I have nothing to complain about. My Next Criterion purchase (in addition the the Sabu box and 4 feathers will be Topsy/Turvy in BR. A really wonderful film that is sadly underappreciated. Thanks- Al Hirst