The Brigand of Kandahar (1965)

“It’s ironical that your husband should volunteer for special mission with your lover, don’t you think? ” – Captain Boyd

Number of Times Seen – 1 (1 Jul 2020)

Brief Synopsis – A mixed race officer in the British Army in India is accused of being a coward in battle and after being sentenced to prison is rescued by his Indian tribesmen.

My Take on it – This is a film that I came across by accident and knew absolutely nothing about.

The premise was intriguing, so I decided to see what it was all about.

Unfortunately this is a completely by the book military adventure story that just isn’t engaging enough.

The story lacks any real emotional pizazz that would have helps make us care about what happens along the way.

They never quite develop any of the characters enough yet they allude to some very racy accusations but it is all kept far too secretive and ambiguous and it’s easy to lose interest.

The movie has a great cast and both Oliver Reed and Ronald Lewis are pretty effective in their roles.

The movie is hinged on a love story aspect that doesn’t seem plausible enough since there is no chemistry between these various characters at all.

To make it even more strange, they add in another woman as a second love interest and there is no chemistry between them also which is somewhat laughable since they make the same mistake twice.

Th film does get the action sequences done right and that in turn helps to enhance the way we can look at all of the skirmishes since they are presented to us in a genuine way.

Bottom Line – Pretty by the book adventure story that fails to have any emotional pizazz. The characters aren’t developed well enough and despite some racy accusations, they keep things too ambiguous and shrouded throughout. The cast is great with Reed and Lewis being effective with their characters. The love story aspect seems far too tacked on to be effective and there doesn’t seem to be much chemsitry between the characters that would even make it seem plausible. The action sequences are shot well and that helps enhance the realistic aspects of the skirmishes.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Oliver Reed, Yvonne Romain, and Ronald Lewis all finished their Hammer contracts with this film. (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (5/10)