Customer Reviews

The Charge of the Light Brigade

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

From the standpoint of history, artistic license abounds in this classic adventure movie. In fairness, the filmmaker posts a disclaimer of the historical veracity of the film right at the beginning. Errol Flynn is at his flamboyant best as dashing English officer, Geofrrey Vickers. He vies with his brother (Patrick Knowles) for the love of Olivia DeHavilland. Romantic sublplots aside, Flynn and an army of supporting actors hold the thin red line of 19th century British imperialism. C. Henry Gordon is evilly conniving as Surat Khan, leader of the fictional Suristan faction. When England cuts off his money, Surat Khan wages war against the British interlopers. After Surat Khan massacres non-combatants at the garrison of Chokoti (sp.?), India is too hot to hold him. In typical Hollywood fashion, the action shifts to the Crimea at Sebastopol where the British face the Russians at Balaklava Heights. As an inside joke, the Russian commander bears an uncanny resemblance to Joseph Stalin. Who should be collaborating with the Russians but Surat Khan? Vickers, still burning with anger over the massacre of innocents, discovers this and he forges orders for the Light Brigade to attack. Under the direction of Michael Curtiz, the slam-bang action sequences of this movie provide memorable thrills. The fighting at Chokoti is both exciting and unsettling as women and children fall before rebel bullets. The staging of the charge is impressive, if controversial. Many of the horses were destroyed because of injuries from the deliberate tripping. As the lancers charge into the face of roaring canon, to the right of them, to the left of them, in front of them, quotes from Tennyson's poem appear on screen. The shot of the fallen lancer still holding aloft the billowing Union Jack in his lifeless hand is great imagery. "When can their glory fade?" Filmed in glorious B&W, this classic action/adventure film is a good example of the quality product of the Warner Brothers film sutdio at its Depression Era height. Enjoy the old fashioned fun. ;-)

Here we have one of the ten best Hollywood adventure, historical (with the normal Hollywood bending of the facts) romances of all time. A movie that all later adventure movies, like the Indiana Jones series, owe a dept to and yet you can not find it or 'Gunga Din' or 'The Sea Hawk'etc. on DVD. Every junky movie that lasted only a week in theaters in the past ten years you can find on DVD but hardly any of the CLASSICS from the 30's or 40's. When will Hollywood wake up?

The Hollywood version of the Charge of the Light Brigade is one of the most rousing action pictures ever produced. As Errol Flynn vehicles go, it stands perfectly alongside They Died With Their Boots On as superior filmmaking based only loosely on history.

With that said, forget the history lesson and enjoy the movie. Flynn is predictably heroic as Captain, then Major, Jeffrey Vickers of the 27th Lancers. He begins the film in the far reaches of India, first sharing hunting excursions with and later hunting the duplicitous Surat Khan (very villainous and very ficticious).

His romantic interest is the ever beautiful Olivia DeHaviland who, strangely enough, actually falls for Flynn's younger brother, Percy. Ever gallant, Major Vickers ensures that his brother is out of harm's way and safe to return to the woman both love but he cannot have.

Of course, the climax of the film is the charge itself, brilliantly staged with mounting speed, tension and ferocity as the words of Lord Tennyson's immortal poem are superimposed over it. This is one of the most famous and breathtaking action sequences in the history of cinematography, and is well worth waiting through the movie for, although by far not the only piece of derring-do in the film.

If The Charge of the Light Brigade had not remained well known for its charm as a movie, it would have been remembered for a far different reason. The incredible realism of the climactic cavalry charge was achieved at a heavy cost. So many horses were seriously injured or killed in the making of this picture that humane organizations worldwide demanded that such excesses never again be undertaken. The next time you see the disclaimer "No animals were harmed in the making of the film," you now know why.

All that aside, The Charge of the Light Brigade is a wonderfully entertaining production. Like all the best films of its time, it mixes action, romance, adventure and a healthy serving of humor to provide a tremendously satisfying experience.

If you want to know the history, read the book. If you want to have some fun, watch the movie.

This version of "The Charge Of the Light Brigade" has to be viewed with an open mind. Don't compare it to the movies nowadays with all the computer generated battle scenes. Imagine watching hundreds of actual horses & riders charging in line. The complexity of such a shot is enormous. Unfortunately, hundreds of horses were hurt and placed out of their misery. But that was the common way of doing things then. As for the acting, Errol Flynn is a dashing figure and even his death in the movie has dignity. Personally, I hate his brother (for stealing his girl while he was away), and his former fiance for hurting this hero. She is as much at fault for his death as the enemy. His broken heart definitely leads him in part to his destructive, suicidal end. As a child I loved this film and thru out my 40+ years, I have tried to view it whenever it shows. I obtained a video copy which is very worn now. All I need to say is BRING IT TO DVD. I thought it would be in Errol Flynn's box set recently released but was disappointed not to see it there. One of his best films and the studio still resists putting it on DVD. My children (ages 12 to 21)enjoy the old movies, because I showed them what it means to make a movie without all the technology of today. Those were the days of "lasting" stars, not the "fast shooting and disappearing" stars of today.

I first saw this movie in 1977 when I was 7, and now I am 37, and I still think this is one of the best movies ever!!! This was made over 5 years BEFORE PEARL Harbor. For 1936, and this FAMOUS Charge, with Errol Flynn, and this MUSICAL SCORE is the greatest! This movie is timeless, and should be shown to your children, and then their children!! They DO NOT make movies like this anymore!

This classic movie is based VERY losely on History. At least Hollywood didn't go out of its way to appear accurate and not be so, as it often does pretenciously today. This movie is sheer entertainment with faint resemblences of history. The massacre portrayed of the garrison in India is losely based on an incident during the Seapoy Mutiny of 1857. Here the Indian mutineers crually did what is shown in the movie more or less.

Of course there was no Captain Vickers, or 27th Lancers, although they can pass for the 17th Lancers who were in the actual charge. This movie is a visual delight, and is a fast passed epic. The costumes and uniforms are reasonably accurate, which is pretty good for those days. Flynn is his usual dashing self, and a tender looking David Niven in his first role is amusing to see. Although I care more for how a movie presents history as opposed to who acts in it, I do give both of these actors as well as de Haviland credit for a good job. They all fit their roles nicely.

The true highlight of this film is of course the famous Charge against the Russian Don Cossack Horse Artillery Battery, which is portrayed looking like an entire army here! Still, the charge sequence for all that is superb, with really painful looking falls for the extras as well as the horses. Many horses were hurt shoting this film, and rules toward better treatment of them were revisesd as a result. But in those days people and animals took second place to movie making history! Today we have technology and computer graphics to spare all the hardships of yesturday. See this film for the heyday of epic film making, even though the history is whacked, I don't mind! And neither should you. Compared to the Politically Correct stuff that is mostly done today it is refreshing. For an interesting comparison check out the British re-make of the Charge of the Light Brigade in 1968. You will hardly find two movies more unlike each other! Enjoy.

As history, forget it! The Charge of the Light Brigade is strictly an action epic. The charge itself has not been topped even to the present. It's magnificent but also upsetting at the sight of these horses falling rather violently in some shots. Other films like Gunga Din and John Huston's The Man Who Would Be King have a light touch laced throughout the script. The closest we come to any lightness of tone in Charge is the ever terrific David Niven as Capt. Randall and then not very much. Ironically the film's dour tone, best mirrored by Errol Flynn's and Donald Crisp's respective characters, is probably the way it really was in British India. Such a life was probably dirty, dangerous, violent and often very dull in the "off" hours; anything but the stuff of romantic adventure. Director Michael Curtiz does not allow the movie to sag under the weight of its large cast, huge sets and mammoth battles, but instead keeps it moving, aided by Max Steiner's rousing score. This is prime Hollywood adventure.

I am an avid Errol Flynn fan where his action movies are concerned.
The Charge of the Light Brigade is timeless and should be seen by the younger generation who were never exposed to this movie. I am from the baby boom days.

Following the success of Errol Flynn and Olivia deHavilland in Captain Blood, Warner Brothers quickly put them back together into another action film. But it's a surprising pairing, since deHavilland's character isn't in love with Flynn, but his brother instead. Actually, the deHavilland character and the love plot really arent' necessary, although they don't take away from the film. The movie is an action filled account of an ill fated charge by the British against a much larger Russian army in India. Tennyson wrote a famous poem about the incident, praising the British for their bravery. The movie explains the events leading up to the charge, and as someone who is not a history expert, I'll accept the views of others that say that the film is much more fiction than fact. To me, that doesn't matter, because it entertains nonetheless. The musical score is terrific (as any score by Max Steiner usually is), and Michael Curtiz's direction is excellent, particularly in his depiction of the sweeping action. One thing is surprising. Nowadays, as people have become more aware of protecting animals in film and television, the climatic scene in this film is sort of disturbing, given that you can see a number of horses being injured, if not killed. But overlooking that, Charge of the Light Brigade is an action filled epic that is most impressive.

For some reason, THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (directed in 1936 by Michael Curtiz) is always forgotten when people talk about Errol Flynn's movies. It's one of the all-time greats for Flynn, in which he plays gallant Major Vickers, an officer in the 27th Lancers, whose personal story entwines with the horrors of the Crimean War.

Major Geoffrey Vickers (Errol Flynn) is engaged to lovely Elsa Campbell (Olivia de Havilland), the daughter of one of his superiors (Donald Crisp). Unbeknowst to Geoffrey, Elsa has also fallen in love with his younger brother Perry (Patric Knowles). This stormy love triangle is set against the violent conflict in the Crimean. When the British outpost of Chukoti is stormed and all the occupants massacred by the bloodthirsty forces of Surat Khan (C. Henry Gordon), Geoffrey and Elsa narrowly escape with their lives. Geoffrey then leads the members of the 27th Lancers into the fray, determined to avenge those who needlessly perished in Chukoti...

Based around the famed poem by Tennyson (and loosely modeled on factual events), THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE was the first pairing of Flynn and de Havilland following their celebrated debut in the previous years' "Captain Blood" (and also directed by Michael Curtiz). The film's showstopping highlight is the Light Brigade charge itself; a hair-raising, nine minute sequence which earned second unit director Jack Sullivan a specially-awarded Oscar. So many horses were either seriously injured or killed in this sequence that the American Humane Association brought in new laws for treating animals in motion pictures.

Maybe the reason why CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE fails to be mentioned in the same breath as "Captain Blood" or "Adventures of Robin Hood" is because it is much more than a swashbuckler, and it's meaning runs a lot deeper than most Flynn vehicles. This is a grand historical epic with passion and pride; it's certainly a movie to revisit again and again.