It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

A Hammer Film, released in the U.K. by Warner-Pathé (9 August 1965), in the U.S.A. by Columbia (May 1966). Registered: May 1965. "U" certificate. Copyright 1 July 1965 by Hammer Film Productions. Australian release through Warner Bros: 13 October 1967. 7,319 feet. 81 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Lieutenant Case, a half-caste officer in the Bengal Lancers, runs up against racial prejudice when he returns from a mission in which his colleague, Captain Connelly, was captured by rebel Gilzhai tribesmen; accused of having abandoned Connelly because he coveted the latter's wife Elsa, he is sentenced by Colonel Drewe to ignominious discharge. Furious at the injustice, especially as Elsa refuses to believe his innocence, Case throws in his lot with the Gilzhai leader, Eli Khan, and trains his warriors for an attack on the British. However, he is horrified by Eli Khan's barbarous treatment of his prisoners.NOTES: Produced at Associated British Studios, Elstree, England.COMMENT: A significant proportion of this film is made up of footage from Terence Young's "Zarak" — which is marvelous stuff. On the other hand, "The Brigand of Kandahar" itself is awful. The sets look hideously cheap, the direction is barely competent and the script dull.Most of the acting is of a similar low standard, although Reed, Lamont and Miss Romain make valiant efforts. Production values are virtually nil and entertainment is, at best, slight.

This is an extremely curious film from Hammer.They did look to diversify from their Hammer horrors and this is one of the results.The plot seems quite strange and very muddled.What is more it is difficult to take seriously.Normally in an adventure film you know which side to support.However in this film it is difficult to know who is worse.The Army comes out of it just as badly as the warring tribes.Also here we have a film as late as 1967 where it was thought not to be a problem having a white European actor putting on make up to play an Asian character.The plot revolves around the fact that Lewis is discharged from the army and imprisoned on very circumstantial evidence and racial prejudice.I have to say that "Carry On Up The Khyber" is a far better film and a lot more fun too.

Although mainly remembered for its horror output, the Hammer film company occasionally dipped its toes into other genres such as science fiction and historical swashbucklers. The Brigand Of Kandahar is one of these historical pieces… and a rather shoddy one at that. Hammer regular John Gilling is the writer and director responsible for this feeble colonial adventure pic – it's hard to believe that he had already made Shadow Of The Cat and The Pirates Of Blood River (two much stronger entries in the Hammer canon), and was a year away from releasing The Reptile and The Plague Of The Zombies (two of the most fondly remembered Hammer films of the 60s). Gilling hits a real low-point with The Brigand Of Kandahar; it is one of the studio's weakest productions. Hardly surprising, then, that it has faded into obscurity and is now all-but forgotten.At Fort Kandahar, half-caste officer Robert Case (Ronald Lewis) returns from a reconnaissance mission with news that his companion Captain Connelly (Jeremy Burnham) has been captured and probably killed by tribal bandits. The commander of the fort, Colonel Drewe (Duncan Lamont), is angered that Case didn't go back to help his stricken companion and his fury is fuelled further when he learns that Case has been having an affair with Connelly's wife, Elsa (Katherine Woodville). Suspicions mount amongst the officers that Case may have deliberately allowed the capture of Connelly in order to "clear the way" for his illicit romance with Elsa. Case is arrested and found guilty on a trumped-up charge of cowardice. He escapes from his cell and flees into the hills, where he joins up with the local bandits, led by the mad and violent Eli Khan (Oliver Reed). From here, he plans to have revenge against the British officers that have poisoned his name and reputation…The Brigand Of Kandahar could have been much better than it is. The character of Case fights back against evil-doers by doing more evil – this makes him a rare and unusual figure in these types of film, an anti-hero some might say, or perhaps the "good guy" simply by virtue of being less villainous than everyone around him. It should make for interesting viewing, but the part is boringly written and played with little enthusiasm by the miscast Lewis. Oliver Reed shows plenty of enthusiasm as the bandit leader, but his pantomime villainy and deranged cackling rapidly wears thin. The only actor to emerge from this debacle with dignity intact is Duncan Lamont as the ruthless Colonel Drewe – how ironic that Lamont gives perhaps his best performance in a Hammer movie in the worst one he ever appeared in! The story itself is strictly routine, with nothing whatsoever to get excited about, while the budgetary restrictions mean that the whole film has a horribly studio-bound appearance which only adds to the overall dispiritedness. One for completists, perhaps, but The Brigand Of Kandahar offers nothing for anyone else.

Even those with a fondness for those "Northwest Frontier" movies set in the British Raj of the 1800's will probably be disappointed by this minor, unpersuasive, and somewhat uncharacteristic entry from Hammer Films. The costumes have that clean, new look -- as if they just came from a rental shop -- and the handful of sets are too tidy and well-lit to be anything other than studio creations. Even the rocks have a fiberglass look. More troubling than the film's skimpy budget, however, is the casting of its main character. He's supposed to be half-English, half-Indian -- one of those chaps who's worked his way up in the ranks of the British Army but who feels he's still regarded with hostility and suspicion by his colleagues. Not only does Ronald Lewis lack the face for this part, (there's nothing at all Indian about him), but he's also short of the darkly-compelling charisma which might make this character "work." He comes across as a provincial English actor who's dressed up in left-over garb from a production of "Kismet." In his defense, however, it must be said that the script gives him little to work with since his character is poorly developed and too often seems simply like the victim of events going on around him.Oliver Reed might have been a better choice for the lead but here he plays the villain -- a rebellious chieftain who's said to be "half-mad." Unfortunately, this gives him license to indulge in some theatrical behavior which is more embarrassing than enlivening.At one point a captured British soldier is whipped by the rebels but even this sure-fire scene is too poorly staged to arouse much interest. (Why didn't the rebels tear the soldier's shirt all the way off? Didn't they take Flogging 101?)