Adapted from Rudyard Kipling’s 1900 novel, Kim was released by MGM in 1950 after a protracted production history which might be said to illustrate the ebb and flow of the ‘empire film’ genre in Hollywood. The rights to Kipling’s novel were purchased by Irving Thalberg in 1934, shortly before Paramount’s Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935) established the commercial potential of adventure films set in British India. Plans were made for an Autumn 1936 release and a script written by Howard Estabrook and Hugh Walpole was submitted to the Production Code Administration for assessment (Kim, Production Code Administration Collection). Production was postponed, however, possibly due to MGM’s commitment to another Kipling adaptation, Captains Courageous (1937). The project resurfaced in 1937 under the aegis of producer Louis D. Lighton, whose prior credits included both Captains Courageous and Lives of a Bengal Lancer. According to notes written by Lighton in the redrafted 1937 screenplay, Victor Fleming was due to direct, with Robert Taylor, Wallace Beery and child-actor Frederick Bartholomew in the leading roles. Lighton’s notes also emphasise the commercial value of the British market to the project: ‘we want to please England with this picture’ he stated, adding that the film ought to depict ‘the very fine relationship that exists between the English officers and almost all of the natives’ (‘Script notes by Mr. Lighton’, 21 January 1937).

However, the project was shelved and did not reappear on MGM’s production roster until 1942. Trade press reports associated various actors with roles in the film, including Basil Rathbone, George Sanders and Mickey Rooney, MGM’s leading child star of the period (Kim, Production Notes, AFI Film Catalog). Nevertheless, production was abandoned once again. It was later reported that MGM had cancelled its plans on the recommendation of America’s Office of War Information, who felt that the film would alienate American allies in India, which was at the time an important counterweight to Japanese wartime aggression in Asia (Spiro, New York Times, 6 November, 1949, x5). Although an intervention of this type is certainly plausible, it also seems relevant that the ‘empire film’ had declined markedly in popularity by the early 1940s.

Production on Kim began again in 1949 amid a more stable political climate: India had recently become independent, making representations of its colonial past less sensitive. Moreover, the ‘empire film’ was regaining popularity: Kim was preceded by a successful adaptation of King Solomon’s Mines (1950), also from MGM, and followed by Soldiers Three (1951), a remake of Gunga Din (1939). Errol Flynn was cast as Mahbub Ali, Paul Lukas played the religious figure Lama, and Dean Stockwell, aged 13, was given the title role.

A limited amount of location work was undertaken in India from December 1949 to January 1950, but only a few cast members, including Flynn, were involved in the shoot. A body double was used for shots involving Stockwell, who remained on set in California (Kim, Production Notes, AFI Film Catalog). Nevertheless, the credits to the finished film emphasise the use of authentic settings: ‘To the government of India and to His Highness, the Maharajah of Jaipur, and His Highness, the Maharajah of Bundi, we express our deep appreciation for the facilities afforded us in filming this picture in India’. Kim premiered in New York in December 1950 and became a modest success. Records kept by MGM indicate that the film made domestic takings of $2.9m and  international takings of $2.4m against a production cost of just over $2m (Eddie Mannix Ledger).