The Brigand of Kandahar Blu-ray

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

Directed by John Gilling
UK 1965

1880. British India. Robert Case, a half-caste lieutenant, is unjustly discharged from the British Army. He joins the rebel Bengali tribesmen offensive against the colonial enemy. They capture a foreign journalist and Case recounts his story of false accusation on trumped-up charges, instigated by the bigotry and racism of his commanding officers. Following a successful attack by the British against the rebels Case is brutally shot by Colonel Drewe, his accuser. The journalist returns home determined to report the true story of The Brigand of Kandahar.

***

A mixed race soldier of the Bengal Lancers is court-martialed by his commanding officer and flees to join brigands fighting the British led by Eli Khan.

In 1850 on the North West Frontier of India, in modern Afghanistan, a British garrison seethes with boredom. The mixed race Lieutenant Case (Ronald Lewis) has been having an affair with a fellow officer's wife, Elsa (Katherine Woodville). Elsa is persuaded to terminate the scandalous relationship. Lieutenant Case reports back to his regiment following a sortie where a fellow officer is captured by local bandits. Coincidentally, the captured officer is Elsa's husband and Case ends up facing charges of cowardice. Colonel Drewe (Duncan Lamont) has him court-martialed; the show trial results in the stripping of his rank and a long prison term. With help from the tribesmen, Case escapes and flees into the mountains where he falls into the hands of Eli Khan (Oliver Reed), the leader of the brigands.

Excerpt from WikipediaN located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: August 19th, 1965

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Review: Indicator - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

Box Cover		CLICK to order from: coming to standard Blu-ray in July 2024:
Distribution	Indicator - Region 'B' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:21:55.452
Video	2.35:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 32,939,989,398 bytes Feature: 24,119,424,576 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.88 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	LPCM Audio English 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles	English (SDH), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Indicator 2.35:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 32,939,989,398 bytes Feature: 24,119,424,576 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.88 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Audio commentary with film historian Vic Pratt (2020) • Hammer’s Women: Yvonne Romain (2020, 7:39): profile of The Brigand of Kandahar actor by film historian Melanie Williams • Stephen Laws Introduces ‘The Brigand of Kandahar’ (2020, 8:16): appreciation by the acclaimed horror author • Sinyard examines the career and reputation of writer-director John Gilling • Afghan Ostinati (2020, 12:45): appreciation of Don Banks’ score by David Huckvale, author of Hammer Film Scores and the Musical Avant-Garde • Original theatrical trailer (2:37) • Image gallery 72 promotional and publicity materials • Limited edition exclusive 36-page booklet with a new essay by Naman Ramachandran, an extensive selection of items from the original Hammer publicity manual and pressbooks, and film credits Blu-ray Release Date: March 30th, 2020 Custom Blu-ray package (see below) Chapters 10

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Indicator Blu-ray (March 2020): Indicator have transferred the Hammer Studio's film - John Gilling's The Brigand of Kandahar as part of their Hammer Volume Five: Death & Deceit Blu-ray package. The 2.35:1 aspect ratio image looks great on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate for the 1-hour-20-minute feature. Colors are rich and deep, grain textures are thick but consistent. I thought the 1080P presentation was very strong - as predictable from the sure hand of Indicator!

On their Blu-ray, Indicator use a linear PCM mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. There are aggressive effects from explosions, to horses and saber/sword conflicts. These come through authentically flat but with some depth. There is another adventure-infused score by Don Banks (Nightmare, Torture Garden, The Evil of Frankenstein, Rasputin The Mad Monk, The Mummy's Shroud, The Reptile) sounding supportive and clean. Indicator offer optional English (SDH) subtitles (see sample below) on their Region 'B' Blu-ray.

The Indicator Blu-ray includes a new audio commentary with film historian Vic Pratt (author of The Bodies Beneath) who is honest in describing the film as a lesser Hammer effort rife with Indian characters played by British actors with face-paint make-up, and the film's lack of historical accuracy, quite a lot about director Gilling and that few got along with him (but Oliver Reed did.) He analyses The Brigand of Kandahar's dichotomy but still finds positives that he admits to enjoying despite the budget limitations. There is also another new segment of Hammer’s Women. This one is about Yvonne Romain as well as in The Brigand of Kandahar was part of the cast of The Curse of the Werewolf, Circus of Horrors, The Atomic Submarine, Captain Clegg (Night Creatures) etc. We get a good profile of her by film historian Melanie Williams running about 7-minutes. Another new video piece has Stephen Laws introducing ‘The Brigand of Kandahar’ doubling as an appreciation by the acclaimed horror author for 8-minutes. Adventures in Filmmaking is a new 20-minute video with writer and historian Neil Sinyard examining the career and reputation of writer-director John Gilling (The Plague of the Zombies, Pickup Alley, The Pirates of Blood River etc.). Afghan Ostinati is a new 13-minute appreciation of Don Banks’ score by David Huckvale, author of Hammer Film Scores and the Musical Avant-Garde. There is an original theatrical trailer and an image gallery of 72 promotional and publicity materials. The package has a limited edition exclusive 36-page booklet with a new essay by Naman Ramachandran, an extensive selection of items from the original Hammer publicity manual and pressbooks, and film credits.

The Brigand of Kandahar is not premium Hammer but there is plenty to appreciate thanks to the extensive extras. John Gilling's career is filled with interesting Hammer or Hammer-esque projects. It's a film I had not seen in years and the Indicator Blu-ray presentation was fabulous looking very thick and film-like. Okay, there is a commentary here and many more extras - a solid inclusion in the Hammer Volume Five: Death & Deceit Blu-ray package.

Gary Tooze