THE STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY released in December 1959 – on it’s original Cinema release, the supporting film was ‘Kill Her Gently’

It is years since I last saw this film but remember how good it was at the time – particularly for the ‘cobra’ scene

The Stranglers Of Bombay takes place in the early part of the 18th century when India was in British hands

Stranglers of Bombay is quite accurate in describing the religious cult of Kali and the actions of the thugs however by using modern methods of the time, the British succeeded in wiping out the cult, which had originated as far back as the 6th Century

The film has a good script script and direction and is exciting and well-paced.

Also Hammer had, in this film, some really good sets which certainly made you feel that you actually were in India – I also remember in ‘The Abominable Snowman’ with Peter Cushing filmed again in very wide screen, that the sets there were large and impressive – so they had a good Art Directors and Set Designers and the room to build those sets.

‘Stranglers, The Mummy all came out around the same time but The Abominable Snowman was a little earlier- all Three from Hammer

ABOVE – George Pastell in a similar role to the one he had in the same year for Hammer – and a more famous one – ‘The Mummy‘

In ‘The Stranglers of Bombay’ he played the High Priest of Kali and in ‘The Mummy’ released a couple of months before he played ‘Mehemet Bey’ – whose responsibility it was to direct the Mummy to find and kill those who had robbed from the ancient tombs

ABOVE – I remember this scene being particularly well promoted on the film’s release – Death by Cobra- as a victim is staked out for the snake to bite and kill. How dare they do this we would speculate and in one of the film magazines it said that a glass screen divided the cobra from the poor frightened prisoner

Guy Rolfe is excellent as a Captain in the British Army who has spent twenty years in India and is rather steeped in the culture. He’s the right man for finding out what’s at the bottom of a lot of mysterious disappearances, but Colonel Andrew Cruickshank selects the arrogant Allan Cuthbertson, newly arrived in India for the job – and clearly not up to it

The film’s release in the USA was through Columbia Pictures

A new slant that I have only just noticed – filmed in ‘Strangloscope’ ABOVE