The Deceivers Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

The Deceivers Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 8, 2021

There are some interesting etymologies for a couple of words which denote those with evil intent. Even many without much interest in cognates and roots know that "assassin" is linked to "hashish", via an ancient Arabic term hashīshīn, since lore arose that a bunch of murderous Muslims during the Crusades did indeed partake of the drug before engaging in their killing. In what might be thought of as a "subset" of assassins, another term which has made it into English with fair regularity, namely thug, is itself linked to another "group" moniker, in this case the Thuggee, a cult in India which was known for its own murderous exploits. Kind of interestingly, modern scholarship has at times at least partially called into question the historical accuracy of either concept/group, but The Deceivers still opens with a brief text crawl informing people about "a secret society of murderers" and how the film is providing ostensibly "real" history about how the group was uncovered and dismantled in the 19th century.

Cohen Media Group has been revisiting the so-called "Merchant Ivory" library with a number of releases, and while this is branded as another title in the series and does in fact offer that production company masthead in its credits, it's actually what might be thought of as a Merchant Meyer film, with producer Ismail Merchant teaming with director Nicholas Meyer (Time After Time, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan). The whole ostensible "ripped from the (historical) headlines" aspect of the film is perhaps undercut by the fact that the screenplay by Michael Hirst is based on a novel of the same name by John Masters in 1952 which created the focal character of William Savage (Pierce Brosnan), though evidently the fairly ridiculously named Savage was based on a rather interesting real life British Major General named William Henry Sleeman.

Savage is depicted as actually anything but savage in opening scenes, although he is still a stalwart and stolid soldier serving under his soon to be father-in-law, Colonel Wilson (Keith Michell). Savage's skill at tracking down a wounded tiger in the wild is documented in the early moments of the story, as is then rather quickly his relationship with Colonel Wilson's daughter Sarah (Glenn Close lookalike Helena Michell, appropriately cast since she's Keith Michell's real life daughter). Savage is perhaps too solicitous of his Indian "charges" and invites some slight umbrage on the part of the British East India "Company" minded Colonel, and that "personal" relationship is what ends up driving the film, at least subtextually.

In an element that seems at least somewhat based on some Sleeman adjacent fact (from what little I've been able to glean online in doing a bit of background research in preparation for writing this review), Savage ends up developing a relationship with a Thug named Hussein (Saaed Jaffrey), and in a probably fanciful element which evidently is not based on the historical record, Savage then goes "undercover" as a Thug to infiltrate the order and supposedly bring it to justice. What actually results may be strangely reminiscent of tales like Apocalypse Now, where an officer "goes native", with many of the same calamitous psychological and physical ramifications.

As odd as it may sound, the whole Thug strategy of garroting victims may come off as just slightly comical at times in the film, as discursively as things are depicted, but there is a certain, well, savagery to one scene in particular where Savage has gone over to the dark side. Brosnan is effective in a role that requires him to have both heroic and arguably villainous elements in about equal measure. There are some patently goofy sidebars introduced into the tale, including maybe more than one perceived ménage à trois. This was an unusual production for Merchant Ivory at the time of its release, and it seems to have enjoyed a relatively substantial budget, and yet there's kind of a no frills aspect to some of the scenes that isn't quite at the production design finesse of other Merchant Ivory outings.

The Deceivers Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Deceivers is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cohen Film Collection, an imprint of Cohen Media Group, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. As is its usual standard operating procedure, Cohen only offers a fairly generic "new digital restoration" as its technical information. This is kind of a tale of two presentations, as can be seen in some of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review. In better lit moments, things pop extremely well, with some of the "regimental reds" looking especially impressive, and with detail levels generally being very good to excellent. As can be seen in screenshots 15 through 18, things can deteriorate pretty noticeably in darker scenes, with a much rougher and less well detailed appearance. While this tends to be in the darker moments, the same roughhewn appearance can be spotted in at least relatively better lit scenes as seen in screenshot 19. There are also a few minor nicks and scrapes and other blemishes that have made it through the restoration gauntlet. My score is 3.75.

The Deceivers Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Deceivers features a nice sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix. While things like huge epic battle scenes are nowhere to be found in the film, there are a number of standout sequences that feature large aggregations of people outside, including in a couple of quasi-action sequences, where imaging is agreeably spacious. The film has an enjoyable score by John Scott which also reverberates with good force and fidelity. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Deceivers Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 1:00)

The Deceivers Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Deceivers has some really interesting content, and for me personally it was actually kind of fascinating to watch since I just so recently reviewed Satjiyat Ray's Devi, which has what might be termed some "Kali adjacent" material. That said, this is a film that arguably tries to do too many things at once, and the whole idea of a British officer "passing" as a Thug is probably pretty far fetched. Performances are generally committed, and while perhaps not quite at the level of other Merchant Ivory productions, the film's evocation of its era is palpable. Technical merits are generally solid for those who may be considering making a purchase.