Of course one winces a little at the smug colonialist attitudes, and at the patronising ‘You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din’ which commemorates the humble native not wash lavishly-bearer’s refrain from after he dies blowing a bugle to save the Raj from falling into an bushwhack. All the same this is a fetching spiffing adventure fibre, with some classically staged fights, terrific performances, and not too much stiff authority lip as Kipling’s soldiers three go about their rowdy, non-commissioned, and off disreputable capers. What, one wonders, did William Faulkner contribute, uncredited, to the bulldozing Hecht/MacArthur lay out?