Emboldened by their success with horror, Hammer tried to expand their range of films, while not entirely leaving the nest – hence this British Raj adventure drama, with a touch of grisly-ness. It’s about the thuggee cult, the famous bunch of killers beloved by apologists of the British empire because their suppression ranks up there with suttee as an excuse to justify Britain running India. They’ve also proved popular with filmmakers, being the villains for Gunga Din and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. This movie was made in the era of decolonisation so despite the hero being a devoted British officer (Guy Rolfe who usually played support parts), there is lots of criticism of the way the British run India, i.e. for money – plus that standard feature of decolonisation cinema, the pompous, racist British officer too stupid to see what’s going on.
This is a pretty good adventure film, despite the large number of non-Indians playing Indians in the cast – the black and white photography is beautiful, there’s plenty of action and some good shocks (eg a hand delivered in the mail, a very well done thuggee attack). Some of it is a bit repetitive (eg people not believing Rolfe), some not quite believable (Rolfe’s almost killed then not killed a lot), but it’s quite entertaining. Sort of remade as Terror of the Tongs.
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