John Huston's The Man Who Would Be King 1975

In October of last year I wrote about Kipling's novella, The Man Who Would Be King, made into a movie by John Huston in 1975.  It is an excellent example of how short stories can often make better sources for books than novels:  in a movie from a novel you have to leave things out, in one from a short story you can add things in.  Huston's film closely follows Kipling-- with a few minor exceptions-- and most of the dialogue is straight from the book.  Huston was sixty-eight when he made this film and was looking to the past, not only the past of the British Empire but also his own past, when he had read and loved Kipling, trying for twenty-five years to make this film before he finally succeeded.

The film starts in 19th C. India, when two soldier/adventurers make their way to the remote country of Kafiristan in an attempt to seize power.  They succeed, as one of them becomes king, and they loot the country of its gold.  But Daniel Dravot (played by Sean Connery) decides he wants to marry and stay as king and god, son of Alexander the Great, so Peachy Carnehan (Michael Caine) decides to leave without him right after the wedding ceremony.  But at the ceremony the bride bites Dravot and his bleeding reveals he is not a god after all,  Dravot is killed and Peachy survives crucifixion, returning to Kipling to tell his tale (in the novella, but not the movie, he dies the next day).

This is another classic Huston tale of human accomplishment done in by greed and lust as well as fate, from The Maltese Falcon in 1941 through The Asphalt Jungle in 1951 to The Dead, 1987.  What redeems Huston as a classic director is not just his choice of story or his direction of actors, but his quiet and unobtrusive visual style (Oswald Morris was the cinematographer on The Man Who Would Be King, as well as many other Huston films) and the knowledge of literature, art and history he brings to every movie he makes.