Last night's movie was "The Stranglers of Bombay"(1959), a horrible title in the horrific sense, especially since we just watched "The Haunted Strangler" a few days ago. What's with all the Stranglers lately? Hell, I don't know, but it's an awful word because it just seems so descriptive. The movie doesn't shy away from the act of strangulation either, as it depicts the misdeeds of the Thuggee Cult of India, from where the word "thug" derives. All of this is to say it's not for the squeamish, so viewer be forewarned.
Guy Rolfe stars as "Captain Harry Lewis", an officer working for the British East India Company, which ran and dictated the commercial spice trade out of that enormous country for almost three centuries. It's now the 1830s, and Lewis' boss "Colonel Henderson" (Andrew Cruickshank) is concerned about the recent disappearances of merchant caravans along the trade route. He calls for a meeting with Captain Lewis, who informs him of the additional mystery of 2000 local natives who've gone missing. "We didn't notice it at first, but over the past few months the numbers have continued to add up. I think there's a pattern here, sir, connecting the missing merchants and the natives".
Colonel Henderson has his doubts. "It could be that the locals have just run off. We've had that happen in the past. Some don't appreciate our way of doing things, you know".
"But sir", Lewis interjects, "we've actually found bodies in hidden spots along the road. Not laying out in the open but buried, as if the killers wanted to make them vanish".
"But how do you know they were murdered? They could've been buried by family members, after they'd fallen ill on the way to their destination".
"But that's just it, sir. Every body we've found, and there are several so far, shows evidence of a broken neck. I think we're dealing with some kind of organized murder ring, a cult perhaps. You know how superstitious some of these tribes are. Perhaps robbery is tied in also. That would explain the disappearance of the caravans".
Colonel Henderson is a practical man. He's willing to accept the motive of robbery, and perhaps a few random murders as a consequence, but the hocus-pocus of a tribal cult? There he draws the line. The way he sees it, the matter is a business problem to be solved, so he asks Captain Lewis to step aside and appoints another officer, "Captain Christopher Connaught-Smith" (Allan Cuthbertson) in his place. Smith is a nuts-and-bolts realist, not one to jump to imaginative conclusions. The Colonel feels he'll lead a pragmatic investigation that will quickly solve the case. Captain Lewis, being a man of honor, accepts his demotion with dignity, but then declares his resignation from the company. "With all due respect, sir, I believe the situation to be past the point of theorizing. I am certain this is murder on a mass scale. Action must be taken at once, and while I'll not interfere with the company's investigation nor engage in illegal activity, I feel I must do what is needed to stop this. I hope you will not interfere".
Colonel Henderson offers a resigned smile. He and Captain Lewis are old friends. "Alright then, Harry. Do what you must. You have my unofficial blessing but stay out of danger and please, let's not work at cross purposes. Allow Captain Smith his own methods and don't question his authority".
Lewis has a houseboy whose brother is one of the disappeared. One day, he sees his brother in the marketplace, and follows him into the jungle where, in a clearing, a religious leader is holding forth to his followers. We the audience have already seen this Zealot and his flock. They are disciples of the Hindu goddess Kali, who is known, among other names, as The Destroyer. The Zealot is preaching of her powers, that she has come to destroy evil. He tells a tale of how she once cleansed India of demons. However, at first her tactics caused them to multiply. "Every time she cut one down, it's blood drops created more demons. Kali saw that there were more than before she started! She knew she must kill them without shedding their blood". He then produces a length of silk from his waistband to demonstrate Kali's solution.
With the silk wrapped around each hand and stretched tight in between, he shows his followers how Kali strangled her opponents. "The demons died without a drop of blood being shed. Thus she eliminated them entirely". He then exhorts the disciples to continue her mission. "But now, my friends, the demons have returned, in the form of these foreign agents and their company. And not only them, but the merchants they trade with, and the lowly citizens who do their bidding. We must therefore continue Kali's work. It's what she commands of us! We must kill demons to destroy evil, and we must use the technique of the silk"!
The houseboy watches all of this from a distance, believing he is safe in the jungle. But no sooner does he turn to report back to Captain Lewis than he is captured and tied up. As a test of loyalty, the Zealot forces his brother to strangle him. Later that night, his hand is cut off, wrapped in cloth and tossed through a window of the Captain's house.
This is the Thuggee Cult and how they operate. The Zealot is one of their leaders. But there is someone above him, a business representative of the merchants. That's all I'm going to tell you about the plot, except that Captain Connaught-Smith, in all his non-imaginative practicality, will be taken in by this man and fooled into trusting his suggestions. This will lead his investigation into a trap, while Captain Lewis, acting independently, will tread a surreptitious - but no less dangerous - course.
"The Stranglers of Bombay" is a combination adventure and horror movie, produced by Hammer Studios, with all stops pulled out on the viciousness of the Thuggees' murders. The fanaticism of the cult is also emphasized, especially in the incitements of the Zealot leader, who stands before an iron statue of the scowling, four-armed Kali. The performance of Greco-British actor George Pastell as the Zealot is downright unnerving, a textbook example of the True Believer, ready to condemn anyone who disagrees. Worse, he is energized by the promotion of murder. His eyes blaze as he demonstrates The Silk to his followers.
Guy Rolfe is courageous as Captain Lewis, willing to sacrifice himself if need be to root out and expose the Thugs, whose success is based on stealth. There's a lot of history also dealt with in the script, including the way in which the Indian class structure played a role in the rise of the murder cult. All in all, I think it's one of the best Hammer films I've seen, because it's so unique. There's adventure, British colonial history, and gruesome horror all rolled into one. There's also the mystery of the hidden Thugs, some of whom have been merged into business and military culture, the better to destroy from within.
I'm gonna give the movie Two Big Thumbs Up, and Two Huge if you're a Hammer fan. I do feel the need to restate my caveat, though : this is a brutal movie in places, depicting what you could call "a celebration of mass murder" by fear-inspired mind-controlled maniacs. If you can handle it, though, it's first rate filmmaking, shot in rich black and white with Hammer's traditional high quality production values. The print is not only razor sharp but widescreen as well. Don't miss "The Stranglers of Bombay" (unless you're squeamish), it's a little known classic in my opinion. /////
I don't have a second movie, because my timing has been temporarily thrown off. I did one movie two blogs ago, then I did three movies in the last blog, and now I'm back to one again, but I'll get it fixed and we'll return to double-doubles soon. In the meantime, I'll post something I found today that I thought was kind of cool. It's an old blog from April 2010, written right after I began working for Pearl. It would've been from MySpace, which makes it extra cool. I always liked MySpace, and in fact I like it better than FB, because it was a one-on-one social network. You had your own custom page, and anyone could look at it (depending on your settings), but it was one person looking at one other person's page, so it didn't have everybody in everyone's face like FB, which has led to all the bickering we see today. Don't get me wrong, I still like Facebook too, but going over my old blogs made me nostalgic for MySpace, when we lived in a more civil time. Anyway, without further ado, here's that April 2010 blog, which I discovered today at Northridge Libe. The font is smaller because it's copied-and-pasted from my email, so put on your reading glasses.....
Apr 8, 2010
Sounds like a pretty good concert, eh? /////
So there you have it, the week I began working for Pearl. I'm still feeling an incredible sense of disconnect, and I'm coping by writing about it. Yep, I'm starting another book. It's gonna be about my time with Pearl, but it'll be more than just a feel-good or therapeutic caregiver/patient story. I'm gonna try to pull out all the fine detail I can, about what it means to absorb life and to share what you absorb with another person, in this case a lady who suffered from dementia. Does that sound cliche? I hope not. I can't give you the title just yet (cause it's really good and I don't want anyone to steal it), but maybe down the road I'll reveal it. I'm guessing the first draft could take several months to a year, depending on what the future holds. But I'm compelled to tell our story. It feels like the certain thing to do.
That's all I know for tonight. I send you Tons of Love, as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment