''The Stranglers of Bombay'' is a 1959 British

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, ap ...

directed by

Terence Fisher Terence Fisher (23 February 1904 – 18 June 1980) was a British film director best known for his work for Hammer Films. He was the first to bring gothic horror alive in full colour, and the sexual overtones and explicit horror in his films, ...

for

Hammer Films A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as wi ...

dealing with the British

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...

's investigation of the cult of

Thuggee Thuggee (, ) are actions and crimes carried out by Thugs, historically, organised gangs of professional robbers and murderers in India. The English word ''thug'' traces its roots to the Hindi ठग (), which means 'swindler' or 'deceiver'. Rela ...

stranglers in the 1830s. The film stars Guy Rolfe,

Allan Cuthbertson Allan Darling Cuthbertson (7 April 1920 – 8 February 1988) was an Australian-born British actor. He was best known for playing stern-faced military officers in British films of the 1950s and 1960s. Early life Cuthbertson was born in Perth, ...

and

Andrew Cruickshank Andrew John Maxton Cruickshank (25 December 1907 in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire29 April 1988 in London) was a Scottish actor, most famous for his portrayal of Dr Cameron in the long-running UK BBC television series '' Dr. Finlay's Casebook'', whi ...

Plot

Captain Harry Lewis of the British

is 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 a cobra, but is rescued by a pet

mongoose A mongoose is a small terrestrial carnivorous mammal belonging to the family Herpestidae. This family is currently split into two subfamilies, the Herpestinae and the Mungotinae. The Herpestinae comprises 23 living species that are native to so ...

, 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 has been captured by the Thugs when his severed hand is tossed through the window of his bungalow; soon after, the Thugs compel 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 of

Kali Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In this tra ...

and 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 by Major General William Sleeman: "If we have done nothing else for India, we have done this one good thing."

Cast

* Guy Rolfe as Captain Harry Lewis *

as Capt. Christopher Connaught-Smuth *

as Col. Henderson *

George Pastell George Pastell (13 March 1923 – 4 April 1976) was a Cypriot character actor in British films and television programmes. Sources vary as to whether his real name was Nino (IMDb) or George Pastellides (BFI). His marriage record gives his name ...

as High Priest of Kali * Marne Maitland as Patel Shari *

Jan Holden Valerie Jeanne Wilkinson (9 May 1931 – 11 October 2005) was an English actress known as Jan Holden, using her mother's maiden name as a stage name. In theatre she was known for her performances in light comedy and appeared in several telev ...

as Mart Lewis *

Paul Stassino Phaedros Stassinos (1930 – 28 June 2012) was a Greek Cypriot actor whose international stage name was Paul Stassino. Early life Stassino was born in Platres and grew up in nearby Limassol, but spent most of his acting career in England. He ...

as Lt. Silver *

Tutte Lemkow Tutte Lemkow (born Isak Samuel Lemkow; 28 August 1918 – 10 November 1991) was a Norwegian actor and dancer, who played mostly villainous roles in British television and films. His chief claims to mainstream familiarity were his roles as ...

as Ram Das *

Roger Delgado Roger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo Roberto (1 March 1918 – 18 June 1973) was a British actor. He played many roles on television, radio and in films, and had "a long history of playing minor villains" before becoming ...

as Bundar (uncredited) *

Marie Devereux Marie Devereux (27 November 194030 December 2019) was a British model and film actress. She was born Patricia Sutcliffe on 27 November 1940 in Edmonton, London. Marie Devereux became a regular and very popular nude model in magazines during th ...

as Karim (uncredited) * Margaret Gordon as Mrs Flood (uncredited) *

John Harvey John Harvey may refer to: People Academics * John Harvey (astrologer) (1564–1592), English astrologer and physician * John Harvey (architectural historian) (1911–1997), British architectural historian, who wrote on English Gothic architecture ...

as Burns (uncredited) *

Jack McNaughton Jack McNaughton (22 December 190522 February 1990) was a British stage and film actor. As a character actor he mostly played supporting roles, but occasionally featured in major roles such as playing the male lead in the 1951 comedy '' Cheer the ...

as Corporal Roberts (uncredited) *

Warren Mitchell Warren Mitchell (born Warren Misell; 14 January 1926 – 14 November 2015) was a British actor. He was a BAFTA TV Award winner and twice a Laurence Olivier Award winner. In the 1950s, Mitchell appeared on the radio programmes ''Educatin ...

as Merchant (uncredited) *

Michael Nightingale Alfred George Cyril Michael Nightingale (6 October 1922 – 8 May 1999) was an English stage, film and television actor. He appeared in 13 (9 credited and 4 uncredited) of the ''Carry On'' film series - the tenth highest number of appearan ...

as Sidney Flood (uncredited) *

Steven Scott Steven "Steve" Scott (born 10 January 1985) is a British shooter. Career He won a gold medal in the 2010 Commonwealth Games held from 3–14 October 2010 in Delhi, India, and a bronze medal in the 2016 Summer Olympics. Scott was born ...

as Walters (uncredited) *

David Spenser David Spenser (''né'' De Saram; 12 March 1934 – 20 July 2013) John Tydemanbr>David Spenser obituary ''The Guardian'', 1 August 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2013 was a British actor, director, producer and writer. Spenser played the title role ...

as Gopali Das (uncredited)

Historical accuracy

''Stranglers of Bombay'' is somewhat historically accurate in describing the religious cult of

and the actions of the Thugs (also known as ''thaga'', pronounced "tahg"). Using modern methods, the British succeeded in wiping out the cult, which had originated as far back as the 6th Century.The Stranglers: The Cult of Thuggee and Its Overthrow in British India, George Bruce

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stranglers of Bombay 1959 films British historical adventure films Hammer Film Productions films Films directed by Terence Fisher Films scored by James Bernard Films set in the British Raj Films set in Mumbai 1950s historical adventure films Films about cults 1950s English-language films 1950s British films

Plot

Cast

Historical accuracy

See also

References

External links