Robert Flaherty spent a year in India shooting location footage and discovering Sabu the elephant boy, before Alex Korda turned the taps off and had the rest of the film completed back in England in studios with director brother Zoltan. The result was a big hit, chiefly because of the location footage and Sabu’s performance – but would it have been without the nuts and bolts narrative imposed in London. Yes it’s creaky and weak but try imagining the film without it. At least there's some sort of story.
Sabu’s performance remains a marvel – cheeky, natural, sympathetic, touching (especially when his father dies, killed by a tiger), likeable… It’s no wonder he became a sensation. The rest of the performances are okay at best, particularly from the English officer who leads the elephant hunt that makes up the “plot” of the movie. (I kept expecting him to be the baddie but he’s very sympathetic; the villain is an Indian hunter.) The elephant actors are very good.
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