Song of India (Columbia Pictures) (1949)

KNIFE AGAINST CLAW! Song of India Mat 2-D; Prod. Still No. 71 Four-footed terror of the jungle takes Sabu and Gail Russell by surprise in Columbia Pictures’ epic of wild savagery, “Song of India,”” which will be the next attraction at the ............ Theatre. Sabu Subdues Bengal Tiger During ‘Song of India’ Filming Ever since his boyhood job as an elephant boy in India, from which he was boosted to Hollywood stardom by Alexander Korda, Sabu has been appearing in pictures with wild animals of one sort or another. He likes them and, apparently, they like him. This fact was never before so apparent as it was during production of Columbia’s “Song of India,” in which Sabu is starred with Gail Russell and Turhan Bey aticthetteiad sc Theatre. Story of the struggle of two Indian princes for the rule of a wild domain, “Song of India” has a number of important action scenes in which wild animals figure prominently. One such animal, a giant Bengal JUNGLE PRINCE tiger, escaped from its enclosure while Sabu was rehearsing a romantic scene. Producerdirector Albert S. Rogell was “substituting” for Gail Russell in the rehearsal. The rest of the cast and crew, seeing the giant beast loose on the set floor with them, made for the door as one man, and were outside in less time than it takes to put it down here. Only Sabu and the director were left on the stage, with the tiger between them and the door. Rogell picked up a small kitchen chair, the best weapon he could have used, by the way, and walked slowly toward the tiger, while the animal’s trainer clambered hastily over some settings in an attempt to reach the beast. But it was Sabu who really saved the day. He had been working with the tiger, and the animal knew his voice. When he spoke to it, it stopped its angry pacing back and forth, and looked at him. It was touch and Star Gail Russell ‘Civilized’ Turhan Bey | Not So ‘Dainty’ But Oh So Lovely She may be “the daintiest and loveliest of the Hollywood stars today,” as D. W. Griffith once said, but Gail Russell flatly refuses to trade upon either her beauty or her stardom. Currently starred with Sabu and Turhan Bey in Columbia Pictures’ “Song of India,” at thet Theatre, Miss Russell insisted on her right to do whatever the script required her to do. She wanted no double for those scenes in which she appeared in unprotected areas with the tigers, leopards and other savage denizens of India’s wildest jungles, not so long as her co-stars also refused doubles in the more dangerous scenes of the film, During the location work for “Song of India,’ Miss Russell gave an exhibition of physical prowess that surprised the members of her crew who may have been fooled by her slight (109 pound) figure, and the praise given her by Mr. Griffith, the old master and the director of Lillian Gish and other screen lovelies of a former day. The company was on location in the Malibu mountains, and the stars and the crew were amusing themselves with a little archery. An excellent woman archer, Gail is at ease with a bow with a 46-pound pull instead of the usual feminine 28-pound one. She startled the company by driving an arrow almost completely through a young sycamore sapling, a feat, incidentally, that no man in the company could equal. “Dainty,” indeed! Lively "Log' Gail Russell, who is starred with Sabu and Turhan Bey in Columbia Pictures’ romantic drama of a forbidden jungle, “Song of India,” at the ...... Theatre, will never again sit on a log if she can help it. The “log” she sat on, after scenes in which her co-stars battle with knives for her love, turned out reluctant conclusion, after serious consideration of his screen roles, that there is something wrong with civilization. Ever since his arrival on the Hollywood scene, the actor has specialized in pictures presenting him as a young Oriental who floats about the world on magic carpets, who wears flowing robes and a Turkish dagger and is as much at home with djinns as he is with harems. Of Turkish descent, Bey has starred in one escapist mythology after another. Currently, in Columbia Pictures’ “Song of India’ at the ees Theatre, with Sabu and Gail Russell as his co-stars, Bey finally escapes from fantasy to portray an Indian prince, educated and sophisticated, urbane and polished. Bey leads a “shikar,” the Indian equivalent of an African “safari,’”’ into a wild jungle domain. His equipment includes such items as trucks, walkie-talkies, the very newest in hunting rifles and elephant guns, electric generators, floodlights and all the other possible appurtenances and paraphernalia supposedly available to a wealthy, ultramodern prince. And that’s where Turhan Bey has decided there must be something wrong with civilization! In his previous romantic roles, with his magic carpets and his flowing robes, Bey inevitably won the girl. Now, in “Song of India,’ where he is completely modernized, he doesn’t In fact, in “Song of India” he not only loses the girl but he also loses his kingddom. Miss Russell portrays an educated-in-America rajah’s daughter, who shares in the “shikar” and “hunts” wild animals with the most expensive camera equipment available, including telescopic lenses and all the other gadgets associated with modern photography. It would seem that she and Turhan Bey would find a community of interests as well as romance and in “Song of India” they actu Song of India Mat 1-D; Prod. Still No. 58 Handsome Turhan Bey and co-stars Sabu and Gail Russell are at the Soe ane fe Theatre in Columbia Pictures’ “Song of India.” ally do start out with an affinity for each other. But then, there enters into the picture a lad named Sabu, in the type of role from which Mr. Bey has been so eager to escape. Sabu is the “prince of the jungle,” a loinclothed heman whose closest friend seems to be a savage Bengal tiger. But, Sabu, the “uncivilized,” gets the girl ... and the kingdom! Cosmopolitan Cast “Song of India” stars Sabu, Gail Russell and Turhan Bey at theses sists Theatre, Sabu’s name really is Sabu Dastagir, and Bey’s is Turhan Selahettin Schultavy; one was born in India, the other in Vienna of Turkish descent. Gail Russell is really Gail Russell, though, and she comes from Chicago, Illinois. nnn ee CAST and CREDITS go for a moment whether it to be an alligator which also apRamdar ) 1525 icisitereestocnes Sabu HOw ieiascsack Trevor Bardette would leap on him or run away. pears in the film! Princess Tara. ........ Gail Russell Maharaja of Ranjat The tiger finally chose the latter ema eee 2 peri ao 2 — Coane: eer eed inki akwar ............ urhan Bey Ranjit Singh ........ ota: eee a eae | ROYAL BEAUTY Major Doraj .... Anthony Caruso Remicrt iit ne Rodric Redwing By this time the trainer had | : Aunt Shayla ........ Aminta Dyne Numtai .........0:08 Ted Hecht | arrived and, in a few moments, Nanaram ...............55 Fritz Leiber everything on the set was se A Screenplay by Art Arthur, Kenneth Perkins; Story by Jerome Odlum; rene again. Director of Photography, Henry Freulich, A.S.C.; Art Director, Sturges Carne; Film Editor, Charles Nelson; Set Decorator, Sidney Clifford: Assistant Director, Arthur S. Black; Sound Engineer, Jack Goodrich; Assistant to Producer, Lee Frederic; Musical Score by Alexander Laszlo, based on N. Rimsky-Korsakoff's “Song of India”; Musical Director, M. W. Stoloff; Associate Producer, Manning J. Post: Produced and Directed by Albert S. Rogell. A Columbia Picture. STORY (Not for Publication) Prince Gopal (Turhan Bey) and his fiancee, Princess Tara (Gail Russell) hunt in the hitherto forbidden game preserve of the Combi jungle, in India. The Combi village people, who believe that for each animal killed one of their own people will die, have lived in complete harmony with the jungle animals for hundreds of years. Ramdar (Sabu), royal scion known as the Prince of the Jungle, is captured by Gopal’s men, after he frees a large number of the animals captured by Gopal and Tara. Gopal accepts Ramdar’s offer to prove that even the tiger is harmless, when not molested. The native prince then subdues one, only to permit it to escape. Gopal fires at the beast, and wounds it. Tara. disturbed, gets Ramdar’s promise not to free any more animals, lest members of the hunting party be attacked. Thinking him a coward, Hunting Tigers? 2 Ways to Do It! There seem to be two ways of hunting a tiger in an Indian jungle, and “Song of India” reveals both of them. The Columbia film, which stars Sabu, Gail Russell and Turhan Bey Abe eee Theatre, shows | both a modern tiger hunt in which almost everything except a bulldozer is used, and a primitive one in which a knife and a loin cloth are about the only pieces of paraphernalia. Miss Russell and Tuhan Bey, as native princess and prince, conduct the modern “shikar.” Seng of India Mat 1-E Sabu is starred with Gail Russell and Turhan Bey in “Song of India,” Columbia’s jungle adventure now Cine Theatre. Their equipment includes a portable electric generator, walkietalkies, a refrigerator, cameras, and guns. Sabu, as the prince of the jungle and friend of the wild animals, does his hunting armed only with a knife. Song of India Mat 1-C; Prod. Still No. 53 Sultry-eyed Gail Russell is seen with co-stars Sabu and Turhan Bey in Columbia Pictures’ thriller, “Song of India,”” opening .............. at the ACRES Theatre. Ramdar’s people turn against him. To redeem himself, Ramdar lures Tara into the jungle, and holds her as hostage. Furious at Ramdar, Gopal tracks him down. The wounded tiger destroys Gopal after he has been unarmed by Ramdar in a fight with knives. ascends the throne and marries Tara. Ramdar (Running Time: 77 minutes). Page 3