Kim
Rudyard Kipling
Signed by Errol Flynn & Dean Stockwell

A hardback edition of Kim by Rudyard Kipling, later edition published by Doubleday & Company, New York 1949. Signed by Errol Flynn to flyleaf and by Dean Stockwell to half title page 30th August 1950, both of whom starred in the Film version of the book. Book is very good tight with clean bright pages dust to top edge, dj has some chipping/minor tears but is bright, rare in this form.

The film version was released in 1950 and starred -
Errol Flynn ...as... Mahbub Ali, the Red Beard
Dean Stockwell ...as... Kim

The story of an English orphan, Kim (portrayed by 14-year old future "Quantum Leap" star Dean Stockwell), living on the streets of India and passing as native, while serving as a spy for the Empire, the production focuses on his 'education' by a holy Lama on a quest (portrayed by an oddly-cast Paul Lukas), and his covert activities, with his 'contact' being a woman-chasing, free-living Afghan horse trader/agent (Flynn, sporting a red beard and gray hair, but, as usual, simply portraying a caricature of himself). Evil is afoot in the Khyber Pass, stirred up by Czarist Russians, and Kim's knowledge and survival skills would be tested, even as his future is being decided.

While the production was certainly 'family friendly', Victor Saville's direction often dragged, and the cast could not overcome the stodgy pacing. The location scenes in India were, however, beautiful in Technicolor, although the film's lead, Stockwell, never left California (due to his age). Despite occasional flare-ups of malaria, Flynn enjoyed his visit to the Far East, financed by MGM, and, with little responsibility for the film's success, and usually inebriated, his performance was high spirited, to say the least!