The Stranglers of Bombay
The Stranglers of Bombay | |
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Directed by | Terence Fisher |
Written by | David Z. Goodman |
Produced by | Anthony Hinds |
Starring | Guy Rolfe Allan Cuthbertson Andrew Cruickshank |
Cinematography | Arthur Grant |
Edited by | Alfred Cox |
Music by | James Bernard |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 80 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Box office | 295,011 admissions (France)[1] |
The Stranglers of Bombayis a 1959 Britishadventurehorror filmdirected byTerence Fisherand starringGuy Rolfe,Allan CuthbertsonandAndrew Cruickshank.[2][3]It was written byDavid Z. Goodmanand produced byHammer Films.
The film deals with the BritishEast India Company's investigation of the cult ofThuggeestranglers in the 1830s.
Plot
[edit]Captain Harry Lewis of the BritishEast India Companyis investigating why over 2,000 natives are missing, but encounters a deaf ear from his superior, Colonel Henderson, who is more concerned with the local merchants' caravans which are disappearing without a trace. To appease them, Henderson agrees to appoint a man to investigate, and Lewis believes it will be him. However, he is sorely disappointed when Henderson gives the job to the newly arrived, oblivious Captain Connaught-Smith, the son of an old friend of Henderson's.
Lewis believes an organized gang is murdering both the men and animals of the caravans and then burying the bodies, and suspects that the culprits have secret informants among the merchants of the city. He presents Connaught-Smith with his evidence and his theories, but is dismissed. He is also later caught by the Thugees and sentenced to die by the bite of acobra,but is rescued by a petmongoose,forcing the cult's high priest to release him. However, Connaught-Smith remains antagonistic and derisive towards Lewis, who eventually resigns his commission in frustration to investigate on his own.
Ram Das, Lewis' houseboy, believes he has seen his brother, Gopali, who disappeared some years ago, and receives permission to search for him. Lewis later learns that Ram Das had been killed by the Thugs when his severed hand is tossed through the window of his bungalow; when searching for Gopali, the Thugs captured Ram Das and then compelled Gopali Das, a new initiate of the cult, to kill his brother. Meanwhile, the merchants decide to band together and create a super-caravan whose size, as they believe, will discourage the bandits. The hidebound Captain Connaught-Smith leads the caravan and foolishly allows the stranglers (in the guise of travellers) to join them. That night, the Thugs strike with their usual success, and all caravan members, Connaught-Smith included, end up slain and buried.
Lewis and Lt. Silver, a cult member, investigate the caravan's disappearance. Lewis sees the scar that marks Silver as a Thuggee follower ofKaliand shoots him in self-defence. Lewis then discovers the buried bodies and returns to the cult's secret temple, where he is caught and set to die on a burning pyre. Gopali Das, however, now haunted by his brother's death at his own hands, frees Lewis, who casts the high priest onto the pyre instead, and the two men escape in the ensuing tumult. Lewis and Gopali race to meet Henderson, who is dining with Patel Shari, the merchants' local representative and secretly a member and informer of the Thugee cult. Gopali identifies Patel's chief servant as a Thug; Patel kills his follower to hold his tongue, but exposes himself with this action. Following this, Lewis' resignation is revoked, and he receives a promotion from Henderson for his help in exposing the Thuggee cult. The film ends with a narrative display detailing that the Thugee cult was subsequently wiped out by the British, and a quotation byMajor General William Sleeman:"If we have done nothing else for India, we have done this one good thing."
Cast
[edit]- Guy Rolfeas Captain Harry Lewis
- Allan Cuthbertsonas Capt. Christopher Connaught-Smuth
- Andrew Cruickshankas Col. Henderson
- George Pastellas High Priest of Kali
- Marne Maitlandas Patel Shari
- Jan Holdenas Mart Lewis
- Paul Stassinoas Lt. Silver
- Tutte Lemkowas Ram Das
- Roger Delgadoas Bundar (uncredited)
- Marie Devereuxas Karim (uncredited)
- Margaret Gordonas Mrs Flood (uncredited)
- John Harveyas Burns (uncredited)
- Jack McNaughtonas Corporal Roberts (uncredited)
- Warren Mitchellas Merchant (uncredited)
- Michael Nightingaleas Sidney Flood (uncredited)
- Steven Scottas Walters (uncredited)
- David Spenseras Gopali Das (uncredited)
Critical reception
[edit]The Monthly Film Bulletinwrote: "In spite of, or more probably because of, its veneer of historical truth, this is a particularly bestial contribution to the Hammer horror cycle: the parallels to much more recent atrocities seem more marked then ever. The production is the usual flea-bitten affair, unimaginatively unconvincing, quite without period sense, and relying almost entirely for its appeal on visual outrages – blindings, evisceration, human heads thrown on to dinner tables, and so forth – which gain if anything by being shot for once in black-and-white."[4]
Leslie Halliwellsaid: "semi-historical parade of atrocities, repellent but scarcely exciting."[5]
InBritish Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959David Quinlanrated the film as "average", writing: "Grisly thriller."[6]
See also
[edit]- The Terror of the Tongs(1961), a quasi-remake by Hammer.
References
[edit]- ^Box office information for Terence Fisher films in Franceat Box office Story
- ^"The Stranglers of Bombay".British Film Institute Collections Search.Retrieved4 May2024.
- ^"The Stranglers of Bombay (1960) – Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast".AllMovie.Retrieved1 August2013.
- ^"The Stranglers of Bombay".The Monthly Film Bulletin.27(312): 10. 1 January 1960 – via ProQuest.
- ^Halliwell, Leslie (1989).Halliwell's Film Guide(7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 969.ISBN0586088946.
- ^Quinlan, David (1984).British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959.London:B.T. Batsford Ltd.p. 381.ISBN0-7134-1874-5.
External links
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