The Long Duel

THE LONG DUEL is a British adventure film about an Indian uprising in the 19th century presided over by a bandit leader played by the inimitable Yul Brynner. Watching it these days, it's clear that this is a very dated production, and perhaps the film was picked out for merciless spoofing in the excellent CARRY ON UP THE KHYBER.

However, it isn't a bad film, just not one of the best of the genre. It suffers from being overlong and too slow, with long scenes that drag out between the important bits. Still, the viewer is treated to the spectacle of Brynner doing his patented action man routine and Trevor Howard acting against him as the classic stiff-upper-lip Brit with a heart. Supporting actors include Harry Andrews as the idiot in charge, more minor roles for Hammer players including Andrew Keir, George Pastell, and the lovely Imogen Hassall, and the appearance of a surprisingly young Charlotte Rampling.

The action elements of the film are handled pretty well with the usual excitement. A set-piece attack on a train is a highlight here, as is the fiery ambush on the British barracks, but the film only really kicks into top gear at the excellent large-scale climax. Moments of occasional heart and poignancy make this worth a watch, meanwhile.

I saw this as a boy on its first release. It was supported by Eric Sykes' much shorter, mainly silent comedy, THE PLANK, still recalled today while DUEL soon vanished into obscurity. I enjoyed it at the time, but then all the scenery and action in colour on the big screen seemed marvellous in those days of black and white TV.

This is similar to several films of a decade earlier, notably Terence Young's ZARAK (1956) which had stony-faced Victor Mature playing the titular rebel, though Yul Brynner and his gang of mostly 'browned-up' British character actors generally do a more efficient job than their counterparts in the former production. DUEL is also set in a later period, the 1920s, reflecting a time in which the futility of British rule was becoming more apparent, but there is little that is overtly political here. Instead we get the collision of attitudes between hard-line authoritarian Harry Andrews and the liberal Trevor Howard, a familiar theme in everything from prison dramas to westerns. Both actors give their usual authoritative performances, all the more impressive given some of the uninspired writing. I always like Charlotte Rampling, but her appearance seems too modern for the time. There are lots of fights, ambushes and shoot-ups and it works on the level of a run-of-the-mill western, but who on earth came up with the idea of the cheesy pop song for the closing credits?

"Sultan" (Yul Brynner) leads his largely peaceable tribe as the days of the Raj increasingly impose themselves on their day-to-day living. Imprisoned after a raid, they manage to break out of the fort but one of their guards is killed, This serves to galvanise the Governor (Maurice Denham) to appoint a solider tasked with apprehending this man before his disorder spreads. To that end he engages the rather unpopular but effective "Capt. Young" (Trevor Howard). What now ensues are a series of cat-and-mouse escapades as each man vies for the upper hand. The story of a principled man fighting for freedom against the oppressor is quite effective and both Brynner and Howard are on reasonable form as the two characters begin to respect each other, but the rest of the cast - especially the sterile Harry Andrews as "Stafford" and the even more curiously cast Andrew Keir as the turban-clad "Gungaram" - rather let the thing down. The (Spanish) location photography adds richness to the story and there is enough action to help us overlook a rather implausible romance between Howard and "Jane" (Charlotte Rampling) and the rather wordy dialogue that dogs this otherwise adequate costume drama. It ends in rather an underwhelming, if optimistic, fashion but I like the genre and this is perfectly watchable - just a bit long and not very memorable.

Watching The Long Duel put me in mind of the story of Joaquin Murietta from early American California days. At least it seemed that way to me as this story of the Himalayan frontier of India plays a lot like an American western.

Harry Andrews as the John Bull commander of a Himalayan outpost in the British Raj arrests an entire tribe for some specious allegations of poaching. Yul Brynner as tribal chief is among the arrested, but they break out with one fatality.

After that Brynner and the able members of the tribe become brigands and popular heroes in India where the Congress Party is getting most demanding for India's independence post World War I. The provincial governor Laurence Naismith is acutely aware that Brynner and his tribe are becoming popular heroes. Possibly this story is post the Amritsar Massacre which galvanized the move toward independence.

The solution they come up with is to give Andrews a co-commander in Trevor Howard. Howard before his army service was an anthropologist and has studied Indian culture. He's also suspected of the unpardonable sin of 'going native'. But he may be the answer to the Raj's Brynner problem.

Brynner borrows a lot here from his earlier work in Taras Bulba playing the tribal chief. Howard cuts a sympathetic figure as a most unmilitary officer showing his range. A Captain Bligh he is not. He even gets a love interest in Charlotte Rampling playing Andrews's daughter.

I thought the climax was a bit on the unreal side involving both Brynner's son and Howard. More I will not say.

The Long Duel is an interesting saga of those last days of the British Raj though it plays like a western with real Indians.

The film portrays a group people formed by Indian rebels tribes, banded together against the Brits and they're led by Sultan(Brynner). The rebels surrounded by British army which spent time in the chase. The tough leader Sultan is taken prisoner but his action led to getaway from a stronghold pursued by British military. As adversaries are Young(Trevor Howard), a honorable captain, while Stafford(Harry Andrews) is a cruel officer. The governor(Maurice Denham)assign them to capture the obstinate rebel. Meantime, Sultan is double-crossed by a beautiful dancer(Imogen Hassal). Then he takes action by aiding the tribes group in robbing, raiding and murdering British forces and the rich and higher castes. The Brits contra-attack displaying on a train a machine-gun , making a brutal slaughter.

This is a British attempt to match the US adventures spectacles of the mid-sixties, containing derring-do, spectacular battles, gorgeous outdoors and is quite entertaining, though a little overlong. It's a fiery early 20th-century adventure yarn that makes little sense but bulges with emotion that keeps coming at you, as action and adventures is maintained throughout. It's one of several adventures-action pictures made in Britain in the sixties that such Hollywood stars as Yul Brynner and previously in the fifties as Victor Mature and Robert Taylor. Brynner plays with some of sensitivity, he's habitual in exotic roles , such as Ramses, Taras Bulba, The Buccaneer, Karamazov and Salomon.There are strong performances from Trevor Howard and Harry Andrews, who have made few bad films, they're two contenders officers and Andrew Keir as rebel leader. Furthermore, three beauties, Charlottle Rampling, still successfully playing, as severe captain's daughter, and Virginia North and the early deceased, Imogen Hassal. Latterly, as very secondaries appear Edward Fox,Laurence Nashmaith, Patrick Newell, among others. Luminous cinematography by Jack Hildyard, David Lean's usual cameraman, though with abuse of transparency. The movie was glamorously shot in Spain outdoors and interior filmed in Rank studios.Emotive and atmospheric musical score by John Scott.

The motion picture is well directed by Kenn Annakin, he's a skill and successfully craftsman. He has directed numerous films ,British comedies, his most successful films are the fresh and diverting adventures( The sword and the rose, probably one of the best of his bigger films), dramas of the 1950s, for Walt Disney(Swiss family Robinson, Robin Hood and the Merry men), the Jack London adventures(Call of the wild, White Fang), warlike(Battle of Bulge, The longest day), about the long distance rally(Those magnificent men in their flying machines,The biggest bundle of them all, Montecarlo or bust) and a string of TV movies until his recent demise.