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Would you believe it? Those unruly Muslims are at it again; and their affected, peacock-plumed British occupiers are too busy being racist and chasing each other's wives to do anything about it.
It's all going on in 186o's Afghanistan: Lt Case, a half-caste British Empire army officer, has been playing hide the kabob with fellow officer Capt Connelly's wife. Upon returning from a mission in which Connelly was captured, he is kangaroo-courted and given ten years, before being rescued by the shadowy associates of Eli Khan, the enigmatic new leader of the local Taliban. Caught between Lapis and a hard place, he has no choice but to align himself with Khan (Ollie Reed in his last Hammer role - must’ve owed them one), and his heart-scorchingly beautiful sister, Ratina. That he soon becomes disillusioned with Khan's mocking, casual brutality, won’t come as any surprise; and, conflicted by his passionate relationship with sultry-but-nasty Ratina, can't decide whether to return to the stiff upper lip Empirists or stick with the bloodthirsty insurgents.
Despite all the chicanery and violence, 'BoK' remains resolutely Sunday afternoon. Director John Gilling (rare example of a Hammer film with the director also being the screenwriter), - a semi-interesting creative ego, renowned for curmudgeonly set behaviour at odds with the family fayre he was usually charged with producing - is solid enough and on point, but sadly, without the twinkling-eye, ironic sadism Terence Fisher brought to the similar 'Stranglers of Bombay' a few years earlier.
Seconded occasionally from TV, Gilling (who fancied himself as a bit of an auteur) fitted Hammer's ideal of the business ethic to a tee, so a little rude rant now and again was tactfully ignored.
Consequently, 'BoK' is only slightly above average. It has a similarly plush look, but none of the rum insanity of previous Ollie/Hammer collaborations such as 'Night Creatures' or 'Pirates of Blood River'. The villainous, one-dimensional British are matched by the torturing, yelping Ghilzai in the unsympathetic stakes, making neither attractive to root for.
The gloomy ending is different: the 'villain' of the piece sort of wins out.. but then, by George, he's British, so he has to.
The cast is good. The eye-candy is worthy: Yvonne Romain is mouth-watering as scheming Ratina, and Katherine Woodville a more restrained sizzle as Connelly's cheating, confused wife, Elsa.
Elsewhere, Ronald Lewis plays the racially persecuted Lt Case with no little vitality, and there's a staunch, lantern-jawed turn from Duncan Lamont as the British commander, Col Drewe. Throw in Glyn Houston as a kind of Jeremy Bowen figure (without the lefty-BBC terrorist sympathising), and plenty of shifty-bearded, beiged-up extras, and you have - tho condescendingly stereotypical - as solid an entourage in a low budget support feature as is possible to assemble.
Dubbing notwithstanding.
It's better than ok, but several manzils away from classic Bray costume bonkers-ness. Worth a mufti..er..shufti, I'd say.
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