Les Turbans rouges

SYNOPSIS

It's big, it's British and it's trying very hard to be spectacular. A bold bid from Rank to crack the international market, this straight-faced Carry On Up the Khyber was directed by Ken Annakin, an experienced hand at location shooting. He makes the 1920s Indian setting look authentic and keeps the conflict bubbling, but Yul Brynner's rebel tribal leader is prone to ranting and speechifying, police officer Trevor Howard conveys the feeling that he'd rather be in Tunbridge Wells, and the true-life story of obsessed antagonism rings false thanks to stilted dialogue and clichéd situations. Still, no movie with 1960s beauties Charlotte Rampling, Imogen Hassall and Virginia North is unwatchable, and keep an eye out for a young Edward Fox.