7 Movies Where The Villain Dies Earlier Than You Think
6. Shere Khan - The Jungle Book (1942)
The original 1942 live-action adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book isn't quite held up in the same regard as either the 1967 Disney animation or Jon Favreau's more recent re-do, but it's an undeniably gorgeous Technicolor triumph more often than not.
However, Laurence Stallings' screenplay made the peculiar decision to stage the climax of Kipling's source material in the middle of the movie, with Mowgli (Sabu Dastagir) killing Shere Khan more than 40 minutes before the end of the film - before the second act is even over, in fact.
After this, Mowgli is captured and accused of witchcraft, and the rest of the movie revolves around the central characters fighting over treasure and the jungle eventually being burned to the ground.
For comparison's sake, the '67 animation has Shere Khan die just 10 minutes before the end, while the Favreau film does it 15 minutes before.