Recently I was digging though my discs looking for something to watch. I have tons of great stuff, but the mood monster being what it is, my eyes rolled over the titles, nonplussed. They were glazing over as I passed through the genres. Fortunately I passed by one of the best films in my collection, if not one of the best ever made...Gunga Din!
I snapped it up and gobbled it down like seasoned curly fries.
Sadly, and I mean SADLY, it was over far too soon for my movie craving. It strikes so many chords for me; adventure, history, the British Empire, Rudyard Kipling (I'm a big fan), and more importantly, one of the best casts of any move ever made. The 30's, right? Such an era...so many fantastic pictures. I really wanted more of the same, but really, are there more like that? Well, actually there are, and lots of them. I went back to my shelves for another look.
Well, I dug up a Hammer Films collection I'd picked up last year, the "Icons of Adventure". I'm not one who would normally buy Hammer films (too many hipsters into them for postmodernist kitsch), but with titles like The Pirates of Blood River, and The Terror of the Tongs, what self-respecting pulp fiction fiend could resist? I took it out for the British Empire actioner Stranglers of Bombay. It was perfect for my mood, according to its description; The British East India Company of the 1830s is being assailed by wealthy landowners for the lack of protection for their convoys. Entire convoys are disappearing, and in fact, so are thousands of individuals all over India. Could the mysterious killer cult of Kali be behind it?
Uh, there probably isn't anything in my collection closer to Gunga Din content-wise than that.
So I did my usual thing and watched the trailer clip on Youtube. "It's true!", the narrator exclaimed. "It really happened!", he said. There were lots of sharp cuts to a statue of Kali, and to wild-eyed cultists in loincloths. This obsession with shocking acts that we're supposed to (on some level) be titillated by, was pretty off-putting. What can I say, I'm old fashioned in many ways. It seemed pretty bad...exploitation cinema at its cheesiest. In the end, obviously, I decided to give it a shot. I was hungry for the vibe, and beside that, I had actually forked out the cash for the set, right? I'm glad I gave it a chance.
Stranglers of Bombay is 100% traditional Cliffhanger serial/B-reel in feel. The production is very much that of the later serials, with all the same choices that have come to embody that style. The costuming, the filming, the plot, the script, all were just as any pulp magazine-type critter would wish them to be; full of action, mystery, and exotic, far-off locales. There were honestly moments when I expected The Phantom to burst out of the jungle, or to see Commando Cody duking it out with a herd of Thuggee cultists!
I snapped it up and gobbled it down like seasoned curly fries.
Sadly, and I mean SADLY, it was over far too soon for my movie craving. It strikes so many chords for me; adventure, history, the British Empire, Rudyard Kipling (I'm a big fan), and more importantly, one of the best casts of any move ever made. The 30's, right? Such an era...so many fantastic pictures. I really wanted more of the same, but really, are there more like that? Well, actually there are, and lots of them. I went back to my shelves for another look.
Well, I dug up a Hammer Films collection I'd picked up last year, the "Icons of Adventure". I'm not one who would normally buy Hammer films (too many hipsters into them for postmodernist kitsch), but with titles like The Pirates of Blood River, and The Terror of the Tongs, what self-respecting pulp fiction fiend could resist? I took it out for the British Empire actioner Stranglers of Bombay. It was perfect for my mood, according to its description; The British East India Company of the 1830s is being assailed by wealthy landowners for the lack of protection for their convoys. Entire convoys are disappearing, and in fact, so are thousands of individuals all over India. Could the mysterious killer cult of Kali be behind it?
Uh, there probably isn't anything in my collection closer to Gunga Din content-wise than that.
So I did my usual thing and watched the trailer clip on Youtube. "It's true!", the narrator exclaimed. "It really happened!", he said. There were lots of sharp cuts to a statue of Kali, and to wild-eyed cultists in loincloths. This obsession with shocking acts that we're supposed to (on some level) be titillated by, was pretty off-putting. What can I say, I'm old fashioned in many ways. It seemed pretty bad...exploitation cinema at its cheesiest. In the end, obviously, I decided to give it a shot. I was hungry for the vibe, and beside that, I had actually forked out the cash for the set, right? I'm glad I gave it a chance.
Stranglers of Bombay is 100% traditional Cliffhanger serial/B-reel in feel. The production is very much that of the later serials, with all the same choices that have come to embody that style. The costuming, the filming, the plot, the script, all were just as any pulp magazine-type critter would wish them to be; full of action, mystery, and exotic, far-off locales. There were honestly moments when I expected The Phantom to burst out of the jungle, or to see Commando Cody duking it out with a herd of Thuggee cultists!
The stalwart Guy Rolfe The cast was shockingly good, as well. When I read that famed film baddie Guy Rolfe was our hero, I was surprised. He's a great actor, and some of his villains are among the best in classic film. Was he hero material though? As it turns out, yes he is, and very much so. It shouldn't have amazed me. He's been in some of my fave movies of all time. Ivanhoe (1952), King of Kings (1961), Taras Bulba (1962), Nicholas and Alexandra (1971, reviewed by me HERE), were all amazing films, and the list really does go on and on. He brings a special kind of arrogance and class which make his villains something special, and after watching Stranglers of Bombay it seems that he had so much more in this toolbox.
His character, Captain Harry Lewis, is very serious in this one. He's the kind of man that thinks, and feels, who observes and takes part in equal measure. It's this empathetic approach, especially in political matters between the East India Company and the Indian people, that has him marginalised in his position. His penchant for mixing with the people, for treating them as fellow humans, has created such a bond with them that, when so many go missing, he is possessed by the need to know why. He presses his superior officer to form a team to investigate the disappearances. It backfires when his commanding officer brings in the son of an old school chum, the mildly stalwart but priggish Captain Christopher Connaught-Smith (played perfectly by Aussie/Brit actor Allan Cuthbertson) to do the job. Of course, the new guy has no understanding of the indigenous culture, and on top of that, he believes that Captain Lewis is imagining things.
He quickly found out the ghastly truth!
Ghastly it was, indeed. The goggle-eyed villain relished in the cutting off of hands, and the gouging out of eyes, as well as the ubiquitous stranglings that the Thuggee dacoits were so famous for. I really did like this a whole lot, and frankly, I have no idea why I hadn't heard about it. It has so much of everything that I enjoy about that genre (if stiff-upper-lip British adventuring is a genre), and true to all such excellent things, it left me howling for more. It had lots surprises, and lots of things to keep a diehard pulp addict occupied. Speaking of addicts, the Doctor Who fans out there will be thrilled by Roger Delgado (who played the ever-so-evil Master, of course) in the cast, who plays the evil Hindu priest's main henchman!
His character, Captain Harry Lewis, is very serious in this one. He's the kind of man that thinks, and feels, who observes and takes part in equal measure. It's this empathetic approach, especially in political matters between the East India Company and the Indian people, that has him marginalised in his position. His penchant for mixing with the people, for treating them as fellow humans, has created such a bond with them that, when so many go missing, he is possessed by the need to know why. He presses his superior officer to form a team to investigate the disappearances. It backfires when his commanding officer brings in the son of an old school chum, the mildly stalwart but priggish Captain Christopher Connaught-Smith (played perfectly by Aussie/Brit actor Allan Cuthbertson) to do the job. Of course, the new guy has no understanding of the indigenous culture, and on top of that, he believes that Captain Lewis is imagining things.
He quickly found out the ghastly truth!
Ghastly it was, indeed. The goggle-eyed villain relished in the cutting off of hands, and the gouging out of eyes, as well as the ubiquitous stranglings that the Thuggee dacoits were so famous for. I really did like this a whole lot, and frankly, I have no idea why I hadn't heard about it. It has so much of everything that I enjoy about that genre (if stiff-upper-lip British adventuring is a genre), and true to all such excellent things, it left me howling for more. It had lots surprises, and lots of things to keep a diehard pulp addict occupied. Speaking of addicts, the Doctor Who fans out there will be thrilled by Roger Delgado (who played the ever-so-evil Master, of course) in the cast, who plays the evil Hindu priest's main henchman!
 Kali Ma craves BLOOD! |  One drummer and...two other guys |  Roger Delgado, the...Servant, of Kali! |
I was very impressed all around. Of course there were a few quibbles to be had if one decided to look for them, but the fun I had made overlooking them a pleasure. Well, perhaps not the scene depicted here with the three Indians playing the Dholak drums. The first guy is quite excellent, but the other two are literally wiggling their hands anti-rhythmically over the drums. I studied Indian and near/central Asian percussion for many years, so probably nobody will notice but me; it's my tiny little cross to bear in regards to this film.
I would certainly recommend it to anyone who loves this sort of thing. I promise that it will be a pleasantly adventurous romp through Gunga Din territory, and while lacking the epic scope and thespic virtuosity of that most revered classic, it certainly makes up for it with pulpy goodness!
I would certainly recommend it to anyone who loves this sort of thing. I promise that it will be a pleasantly adventurous romp through Gunga Din territory, and while lacking the epic scope and thespic virtuosity of that most revered classic, it certainly makes up for it with pulpy goodness!
It's worth mentioning here the very good 1988 Pierce Brosnan film The Deceivers, which follows a similar path. A British officer encounters the Thuggee, and in infiltrating their ranks, begins to become one of them. It's a sort of British Raj Donnie Brasco. It's based on the book of the same name, published in 1952, and written by the incredible Lt. Colonel John Masters. Masters, besides being one of my favourite writers, was at the front lines in the enforcement of the Empire in India. His books are unabashed in their frankness in regards to the subject, and are incredibly well written.
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