I'm not about to describe the atrocities which take place in this film, visuals so graphic that the first time I tried to watch it, I had to turn it off. The Thugee cult was a vile criminal organization who went too far during British rule in India, and this is meant to document how the cult was brought down. There's the typical distracting romantic subplot, some dated cultural references and pro-British/anti-Indian propaganda, making it difficult to watch with modern sensibilities, yet the feeling that this is trying hard to show a balanced view. Certainly, as lead Guy Rolfe explains, tens of thousands of native Indians were victimized by the evil surrounding them, and it was up to the ever so civilized Brits to remove these barbaric practices. Twenty minutes into the film was the worst, and there is no subtlety in how it was done.
Pretty Jan Holden is there for window dressing and Allan Cuthbertson stands out in the second lead, but it's the atmosphere and ritualistic situations that are most interesting. To watch the blinded victims of the Thugee struggle to drink water like a dog is very disturbing. You'll never confuse this for other exotic adventures like "Cobra Woman" or "Black Narcissus", and it's worth sticking through to watch the bad guys taken down. Watching young Indian men be forced to join out of fear is very disturbing indeed, yet reflects the truth about similar modern cults where young men are indoctrinated from the time they are basically able to speak.
Pretty Jan Holden is there for window dressing and Allan Cuthbertson stands out in the second lead, but it's the atmosphere and ritualistic situations that are most interesting. To watch the blinded victims of the Thugee struggle to drink water like a dog is very disturbing. You'll never confuse this for other exotic adventures like "Cobra Woman" or "Black Narcissus", and it's worth sticking through to watch the bad guys taken down. Watching young Indian men be forced to join out of fear is very disturbing indeed, yet reflects the truth about similar modern cults where young men are indoctrinated from the time they are basically able to speak.