With the overwhelming popularity of the Rudyard Kipling novel, Kim, first published in 1901, it seemed a no-brainer to bring the book to the big screen. That task, as it turned out, would be easier said than done.

Both Mickey Rooney and Freddie Bartholomew had at one time been cast into the lead role but WWII would first delay the production, then the post-war situation in India made it impossible to film on location. It would take until 1950 for Kim to make its long-overdue big-screen debut, and by this time, the two original actors were simply too old for the role. The film’s producers would turn to a young Dean Stockwell to finally bring Kim to life.

Kim is the son of an English diplomat, living in India circa 1880. While the boy is enthralled by the country that surrounds him, he is also becoming restless from viewing it from the window of his boring schoolhouse. It’s time to see the country up close, and with the aid of a disguise, Kim ventures into the strange and wondrous city for a little up-close adventure. He quickly makes two very different friends - a holy lama who tutors the boy on the philosophy of the land, and man named Mahbub Ali, who is posing as a horse thief, but is really a British secret agent. This adventure is turning out to be as exciting as Kim had hoped but his expectations are soon exceeded when Russian attack his new frends and life gets a little more interesting than Kim anticipated.

Kim got a little box-office help, thanks to some star power in the form of Errol Flynn and Paul Lucas. Filmed partly on location in India, the film accomplished a wonderful balancing act of maintaining all the spectacle that one would expect from a Hollywood picture, while retaining all of the original charm of the beloved book in the process, a feat no less daunting than actually getting the film completed in the first place. It remains a classic tale of adventure through the eyes of a boy who learn the age-old lesson of being careful what you wish for – you just might get it.