First Word

At the beginning, Peachy (Michael Caine) appears in the newspaper office of “Kipling” (erstwhile Capt. von Trapp Christopher Plummer), and from his seriously degraded condition we know that the flashback story is going to end in no good. This gives a tragic tension to the story, driving it to its end, even though much of it is comedic in detail.

The two small-time knaves Peachy and Danny (Sean Connery) had set off for an adventure of fortune from India to Kafiristan, a province of Afghanistan known to be wild and forbidding to outsiders. Their success against all odds, both of man and nature (they expected to die on a glacier getting there), leads to biting off more than they can chew. Hubris leads to downfall.

There is a strange use of masonic imagery. Masonic code phrases are what hook Peachy up with Kipling to begin with: “we met on the level and we’re parting on the square” and so forth. The usage does not seem to be conspiratorial, however. Instead, the masonic claim of universal brotherhood is set against the actual profiteering intentions of the duo; though a masonic symbol at one point saves them from execution, their violating the covenant, so to speak, comes back to bite them. It thus a critique of grasping too much, of not knowing one’s place, finally, of seeking empire; the masonic element is, I think, merely a framing device.

There may be a bit of victorian veneration of the State of Nature in contrast to civilization, as when Peachy sarcastically shouts, “train the men: so you’ll be able to slaughter your enemies like civilized men.”

Epic panoramas, interesting characters and dialogue, fascinating adventure make it worth a watch or two.