The Long Duel

The Long Duel (1967)

The blazing passions of a land…its proud warriors…its exotic women…bursting aflame in revolt!

An idealistic colonial police officer is sent to capture a rebel leader who threatens the stability of the Raj's north-west frontier. Despite his official colonial capacity, the policeman is impressed by the ingenuity and integrity of his enemy and is determined to arrest him alive rather than bring him in dead as his superiors might wish.

Date of release
1967-07-27
TMDB
5.2 / 10 (22)
Runtime
1h 55m
Genres
Drama, Action, Adventure
Director
Ken Annakin

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: Pinewood Studios

The Long Duel is a 1967 British adventure film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Yul Brynner, Trevor Howard, Charlotte Rampling and Harry Andrews. It was written by Peter Yeldham and is set in British-ruled India of the 1920s.

Production

The film was developed by Sydney Box in collaboration with Vivian Cox. He approached Ken Annakin to direct, and Annakin agreed, pending finance. Eventually this was (supposedly) secured, with Yul Brynner and Trevor Howard to star. Annakin called it "very acceptable adventure story set in the late days of the British Raj."

In March 1966, The Rank Organisation announced it would make nine films with a total cost of £7.5 million of which it would provide £4 million. Two films were financed by Rank completely, a Norman Wisdom movie and a "doctor" comedy (Doctor on Toast which became Doctor in Trouble).

The film was to be shot in Dehradun and Mussoorie in North India, with a combination of British and Indian financing, plus the assistance of the Maharah of Baroda (Pratap Singh Rao Gaekwad). According to Annakin, Rank agreed to provide three million pounds of the budget, with Sydney Box guaranteeing five million, which was to come through released blocked rupeees or local investors, underwritten by the Maharajah.

Annakin suggested that the film could be shot instead in Spain, where he had made several movies. This was done, with the unit based at Granada, and Rank ended up providing the entire budget. Costumes were shipped from India. It was reportedly the first time Rank entirely financed a movie in 20 years. The Long Duel was the studio's first international adventure film since The Singer Not the Song.

Rank sold the US rights to Paramount for two million pounds.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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