Opening titles:- “For hundreds of years there existed in India a perverted religious sect dedicated to the wanton destruction of human life…..so secret was this savage cult that even the British East India Company, rulers of the country at the time, was unaware of their existence…..until…..in 1829…..” Captain Lewis suspects that the disappearance of a host of local people may be connected to a secretive cult and, despite the incredulity of his fellow officers, makes it his mission to discover the truth.
Production Details
A Hammer Film production in association with Kenneth Hyman released by Columbia Pictures
Copyright MCMLlX by Hammer Film Productions Ltd. – All rights reserled
MPAA Approved Certificate
The characters and incidents portrayed and the names used herein are fictitious and any similarity to the name, character, or history of any person is entirely accidental and unintentional
RCA Sound Recording
Produced at Bray Studios
Black and White 80 mins Megascope
Filming Began: 6th June 1959
UK Release: 18th January 1960
Studio:
Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire
Locations:
Callow Hill Sandpit, Virginia Water, Surrey
Sand and Gravel Quarry, Wapsey’s Wood, Gerrard’s Cross, Buckinghamshire
Stills from film
Click an image for enlarged slideshow
Cast & Crew
Red = Uncredited
Crew | Name | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Credits | Uncredited | Total Hammer | |
Assistant Art Director | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/don-mingaye/# | 31 | 1929 | 8 Nov 2017 | 88 | 28 | 15 | 43 | |
Assistant Director | John Peverall | 29 | 1931 | 3 Oct 2009 | 78 | 21 | 21 | ||
Assistant Editor | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/chris-barnes/# | 22 | 1938 | 5 Jun 2009 | 71 | 21 | 12 | 33 | |
Associate Producer | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/anthony-nelson-keys/# | 48 | 13 Nov 1911 | 19 Mar 1985 | 73 | 41 | 41 | ||
Camera Operator | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/len-harris/# | 43 | 19 May 1916 | 21 Feb 1995 | 78 | 53 | 2 | 55 | |
Casting | Dorothy Holloway | 61 | 7 Mar 1898 | 1972 | 73 | 4 | 6 | 10 | |
Clapper Loader | Alan McDonald | 22 | 1938 | 01.01.1938 | 86 | 14 | 14 | ||
Continuity | Tilly Day | 57 | 1903 | 1994 | 91 | 14 | 1 | 15 | |
Director | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/terence-fisher/# | 55 | 23 Feb 1904 | 18 Jun 1980 | 76 | 31 | 31 | ||
Director of Photography | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/arthur-grant/# | 45 | 1915 | 1972 | 57 | 33 | 33 | ||
Editor | Alfred Cox | 35 | 1925 | 2005 | 80 | 21 | 4 | 25 | |
Executive Producer | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/michael-carreras/# | 32 | 21 Dec 1927 | 19 Apr 1994 | 66 | 84 | 8 | 92 | |
Focus Puller | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/harry-oakes/# | 39 | 16 Jan 1921 | 11 Dec 2012 | 91 | 53 | 53 | ||
Hair Stylist | Henry Montsash | 54 | 17 Sep 1905 | 29 Sep 1974 | 69 | 16 | 16 | ||
Historical Adviser | Michael Edwards | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Make-up | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/roy-ashton/# | 50 | 16 Apr 1909 | 10 Jan 1995 | 85 | 36 | 4 | 40 | |
Master Plasterer | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/arthur-banks/# | 19 | 29 | 48 | |||||
Music Composer | James Bernard | 34 | 20 Sep 1925 | 12 Jul 2001 | 75 | 25 | 1 | 26 | |
Musical Supervisor | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/john-hollingsworth/# | 43 | 20 Mar 1916 | 29 Dec 1963 | 47 | 37 | 3 | 40 | |
Producer | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/anthony-hinds/# | 37 | 18 Sep 1922 | 30 Sep 2013 | 91 | 88 | 1 | 89 | |
Producer | Kenneth Hyman | 31 | 11 Dec 1928 | 11.12.1928 | 95 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
Production Designer | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/bernard-robinson/# | 47 | 28 Jul 1912 | 2 Mar 1970 | 57 | 45 | 4 | 49 | |
Production Manager | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/don-weeks/# | 55 | 15 Nov 1904 | Mar 1988 | 83 | 30 | 30 | ||
Publicist | Colin Reid | 6 | 6 | ||||||
Publicity Director | Dennison Thornton | 50 | 23 Aug 1909 | 1977 | 67 | 9 | 9 | ||
Second Assistant Director | Tom Walls | 47 | 31 May 1912 | 28 Nov 1992 | 80 | 1 | 10 | 11 | |
Second Assistant Director | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/hugh-harlow/# | 20 | 17 Jun 1939 | 17.06.1939 | 85 | 5 | 33 | 38 | |
Sound Editor | Arthur Cox | 4 | 1 | 5 | |||||
Sound Recordist | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/jock-may/# | 55 | 1905 | 8 Jan 1991 | 86 | 30 | 1 | 31 | |
Still Photographer | Tom Edwards | 1999 | 29 | 29 | |||||
Supervising Editor | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/james-needs/# | 40 | 17 Oct 1919 | 4 Feb 2003 | 83 | 110 | 1 | 111 | |
Wardrobe Mistress | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/molly-arbuthnot/# | 51 | 19 Dec 1908 | 31 Oct 2001 | 92 | 48 | 5 | 53 | |
Writer | David Z Goodman | 30 | 15 Jan 1930 | 26 Sep 2011 | 81 | 1 | 1 | ||
Cast | Name | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Credits | Uncredited | Total Hammer | |
Burns | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/john-harvey/# | 48 | 27 Sep 1911 | 19 Jul 1982 | 70 | 12 | 1 | 13 | |
Camel Vendor | Ewen Solon | 42 | 7 Sep 1917 | 7 Jul 1985 | 67 | 5 | 1 | 6 | |
Captain Connaught-Smith | Allan Cuthbertson | 39 | 7 Apr 1920 | 8 Feb 1988 | 67 | 3 | 3 | ||
Captain Lewis | Guy Rolfe | 48 | 27 Dec 1911 | 19 Oct 2003 | 91 | 2 | 2 | ||
Corp. Roberts | Jack McNaughton | 54 | 22 Dec 1905 | 22 Feb 1990 | 84 | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
Dorothy Flood | Margaret Gordon | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Girl Thug | Marie Devereux | 19 | 27 Nov 1940 | 30 Dec 2019 | 79 | 3 | 2 | 5 | |
Gopali Das | David Spenser | 25 | 12 Mar 1934 | 20 Jul 2013 | 79 | 1 | 1 | ||
Henderson | Andrew Cruickshank | 52 | 25 Dec 1907 | 29 Apr 1988 | 80 | 1 | 1 | ||
High Priest | George Pastell | 36 | 13 Mar 1923 | 4 Apr 1976 | 53 | 5 | 1 | 6 | |
Lieutenant Silva | Paul Stassino | 30 | 1930 | 28 Jun 2012 | 82 | 1 | 1 | ||
Mary Lewis | Jan Holden | 28 | 9 May 1931 | 11 Oct 2005 | 74 | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
Patel Shari | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/marne-maitland/# | 45 | 18 Dec 1914 | Mar 1992 | 77 | 9 | 9 | ||
Ramdas | Tutte Lemkow | 41 | 28 Aug 1918 | 10 Nov 1991 | 73 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Sidney Flood | Michael Nightingale | 37 | 6 Oct 1922 | 8 May 1999 | 76 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
Street Seller | Warren Mitchell | 34 | 14 Jan 1926 | 14 Nov 2015 | 89 | 4 | 1 | 5 | |
Thug | Roger Delgado | 41 | 1 Mar 1918 | 18 Jun 1973 | 55 | 4 | 1 | 5 | |
Thuggee Cult Member | Walter Randall | 41 | 1919 | 2008 | 89 | 2 | 2 | ||
Thuggee Cult Member | Vincent Wong | 31 | 4 Feb 1928 | 13 Mar 2015 | 87 | 4 | 4 | ||
Walters | Steven Scott | 39 | 23 Jan 1920 | 1981 | 60 | 2 | 2 |
Original Poster
Click to enlarge
Footnotes
George Pastell’s characters in Hammer films usually had very unpleasant ends. In this film, he is thrown alive on to a blazing funeral pyre; in The Mummy (1959), he has his back snapped in half by Christopher Lee; and, in The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (1964), his brains are squashed to a pulp by Dickie Owen. Life must have seemed quiet indeed when he was called on to dub Andre Morell’s role in She (1965)!