![]() ![]() In the confusion, Cardigan's Light Brigade veers into the wrong valley and heads straight into the waiting Russian cannons. Infuriated by the lack of immediate retaliation as the Battle of Balaklava begins, Nolan takes it upon himself to deliver one of Raglan's incoherent military orders to Cardigan and his brother-in-law, Lord Lucan. Duberly, the unfaithful paymaster's wife, who cheers on the soldiers by day and their commanding officer by night. Failing to follow through on his forces' advantage, the doddering Lord Raglan ponders his next course of action, while Cardigan dallies with Mrs. Once in the Crimea, the British army, although poorly-provisioned and cholera-ridden, wins an initial victory over the Russians and quickly becomes complacent about its power. Left behind in England is an officer's wife, Clarissa Morris, with whom Nolan has been having an affair. As the two men's mutual acrimony reaches its peak, the British declare war, join forces with the French, and set sail for Turkey. While Cardigan is eagerly planning to lead an army in the Crimean expedition to protect the Ottoman Empire from the invading Russians, he is also involved in a dispute with Captain Lewis Nolan, an outspoken young officer recently returned to Britain from India. We're watching the legend here.In 1854, 39 years after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, a group of aristocratic British army officers, including the arrogant Lord Cardigan, become restless for an opportunity to seek military glory. Which is what Alfred Lord Tennyson gave us when he wrote that poem extolling the young men of that generation who died at Balaclava. And he firmly believes in the John Ford mantra, when the legend becomes fact, print the legend. ![]() ![]() He's always a man of class and refinement. Stephenson in every film he did always embodied the stiff upper lip, attention to your duty ethic that the United Kingdom prides itself in. One of my favorite character actors, Henry Stephenson, plays the fictional Charles Masefield in this film. These crinolined heroines do have it rough. It was pretty rough on Olivia DeHavilland as well who Flynn accidentally cold-cocked during a scene. Errol Flynn said it was the roughest film he ever made in terms of pure physicality. It did receive an Oscar for Best Assistant Director for the second unit work in depicting the charge when that was a category at the Academy Awards. So many animals were hurt the ASPCA stepped in and Charge of the Light Brigade got a lot of bad publicity among animal lovers. Thousands of horses were bought and about 200 were destroyed in the making of the final charge. The whole garrison at Chukoti where the massacre took place was built from the ground, up no miniatures were used. ![]() Jack Warner spent a lot of money on this film. But after the rave notices started coming in from Captain Blood before some of the romantic stuff was to be shot, Louise was substituted for Olivia DeHavilland and poor Olivia was typecast as the crinolined heroine until she left Warner Brothers. Originally Anita Louise was supposed to be slated for the part. Thrown into the politics is the rivalry between Errol Flynn and his brother Patric Knowles for Olivia DeHavilland. In fact though this is how we're still acquiring 'friends' in that region which is now Pakistan. Clive in fact is one very large fathead, Flynn knows it only too well. They won a bidding war that was as acrimonious as the military conflict with other European powers which concluded with the French out of there altogether after the Seven Years War and the Portugese left with a couple of enclaves on the coast. This in fact was how the British acquired 'friends' all over India, they ruled very little of it outright. Even though they're not paying him any more to be the British friend, Clive still hopes for Gordon's friendship. It seems as though there was a treaty with a promised subsidy from Her Majesty that expired with the death of his father. At the very beginning Errol Flynn is accompanying E.E. Yet one thing I found contained more than an element of truth about British rule in India and some of our problems today. The reason for the famous cavalry charge did not happen so that the regiment could get to nail this dude for his crimes. Henry Gordon who massacred a British garrison at a place called Chukoti in 1854. There's no such person as the evil Moslem ruler played by C. This particular Charge of the Light Brigade is a nice action adventure tale from the British Raj in the Kipling mold. Anyone who is expecting a factual retelling of the famous charge at the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War had better look to Tony Richardson's film from 1968. ![]()
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