ma-cortes At the beginning the tale is set in Suristan , it could be seen as part of the "Great game" that was fought for nearly a century between the British and Russian empires for control in the Middle East . After that , a massacre takes place at Chukoti , it seared into the minds of the 27th Lancers , a livid scar never to heal . International events , however , were soon to overshadow it in the world at large ; for the hounds of war had been unleashed and England was pouring troops into the Crimea to oppose the Russian hordes , the wave of war preparations swept into Calcuta . This drama deals with the chronicle of events that led to the British involvement in the Crimean War against Russia . In Balaklava is the Allied Headquarters , Army of the Crimea , and the new post of the 27th Lancers . Later on , occurs the siege of Sevastopol and the fierce ¨Battle of Balaklava¨ on October 25, 1854 which climaxed with the heroic, but near-disastrous cavalry charge made by the British Light Brigade against a Russian artillery battery in a small valley which resulted in the near-destruction of the brigade . As military minds blunder and six hundred Britishers , sabers flashing , ride to their deaths . The film is dedicated "to the officers and men of the Light Brigade who died victorious in a gallant charge at Balaklava for Queen and Country - A.D. 1856." It is based on Lord Tennyson's famous poem : Half a league , half a league onward , all in the valley of death rode the six hundred . Cannon to right of them , cannon to left of them , cannon in front of them volley'd and thunder'd . ¨Forward , the Light Brigade ¡ Charge of the guns¨ he said , into the valley of death rode the six hundred . When can their glory fade ? O the wild charge they made ¡ All the world'd . Honor the charge they made ¡ Honor the Light Brigade , Noble Six Hundred ¡ . Good film with lavish production values dealing with events leading up to British involvement in Crimean war with stunning final battle sequence . This epic movie contains feats , a romantic love story , adventures , thundering action , thrills , and historical events . The film was originally set entirely in India, but the Crimean War was added due to fears by Warner Brothers that the story was too similar to Paramount's The lives of a Bengali Lancer (1935). Exquisitely made battle scenes being magnificently directed by action specialist B. Reeves Eason . Although during the filming of the charge sequence, a stuntman was killed when he fell off his horse and landed on a broken sword that was lying on the battlefield . The original script used the real-life siege of a British fort at Cawnpore , and subsequent massacre of its survivors , during the Sepoy Rebellion -, a nationwide mutiny of Indian soldiers in the British army - as the reason for the famous Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava during the Crimean War . The second of nine movies made together by Warner Brothers' romantic couple Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn , here playing star-crossed lovers . The success of this film set the seal on Olivia and Errol Flynn's super-stardom . The support cast is frankly excellent such as Patrick Knowles , David Niven , C. Henry Gordon , Henry Stephenson , Nigel Bruce , Donald Crisp , EE Clive , Roger Barrat and J. Carrol Naish . The picture climaxes with one of the most dramatic and immortal cavalry charges in history . For the filming of the climactic charge, 125 horses were trip-wired ; of those, 25 were killed outright or had to be put down afterward . Superb and evocative cinematography in black and white by Sol Polito , though is also shown in a lousy computer-colored version . Breathtaking score by the maestro Max Steiner in his first one for Warner Brothers . The motion picture produced in big budget by Hal B. Wallis , Harry Warner and Jack Warner was compellingly realized by Michael Curtiz .

weezeralfalfa A largely fictionalized mishmash of two historic disasters in two quite distinct British wars in the 1850s. Most of the film deals with the misadventures of the Indian British army in connection with a largely fictional Surat Khan, who seems to be a tribal war lord in present northern Pakistan(arid and mountainous). The attack of the Khan on the isolated outpost of Chukoti, somewhere in the general vicinity of the regional headquarters in Lohora(presumably, present Lahore, PK), and subsequent slaughter of the survivors, after Flynn and Olivia escaped on a raft, clearly is a reference to the historic massacre of Brits by Indian rebels at Cawnpore, which was located in present northeastern India. Then, suddenly, in the last part, we switch to the historically prior Crimean War, and have Surat Khan allied with the Russians against the Turks and Brits, hence allowing the transferred Indian Brit cavalry an opportunity to extract revenge on the khan. Although Flynn's character, who leads this dramatic misguided charge on the entrenched cannon-rich Russians does manage to kill the khan, he, as well as the rest of his cavalry, pay the ultimate price for their pyrrhic revenge. As scripted, Flynn's character is really more of an insubordinating fool than a hero. Reminds me of a rather similar dramatic ill-fated charge in the later "Fort Apache".Flynn had traded mortal wounds with the khan, hence conveniently ending the romantic triangle problem with his brother and Olivia's character. But, Olivia and his brother don't appear after the battle. Instead, we have a conference between the 3 commanders involved in the Balaclava fiasco with Henry Stephenson, who seems to have been the governor general of India, located in Calcutta, now strangely transferred to the Crimea. He implies that all 600 in the charge died: the British equivalent of Custer's Last Stand. Historically, this is far from the truth. Also, Lord Cardigan, who led the charge and hence was being played by Flynn, survived the charge. Historically, this charge by the sword and lance -wielding light cavalry was the result of confusion in officer communications. Central to this confusion was Captain Nolan, who was also the first to die in the charge. Thus, Flynn's character relating to this charge is an amalgam of Cardigan and Nolan. His character had previously incorporated some of Nolan's prior activities.Returning to the middle portion of the film, a huge army of natives armed with anachronistic modern repeating rifles surrounds the frontier town/fortress of Chukoti, intent on massacring its inhabitants. Unfortunately, the fort commander(played by Donald Crisp) had previously ordered most of the cavalry out on a detail, leaving Flynn as the effective commander of the few remaining. Looks like an Alamo situation. The tribals use their many ladders to scale the wall , and it looks like they will soon kill all. But, suddenly, we switch to the women and children huddled in a room, and the attack seems to stop for no reason?? Later, when the escaped Flynn returns with reinforcements, they find all dead: mostly women and children. Flynn vows revenge, and eventually gets his chance when he learns that the khan has allied himself with Russia against the Brits and Turks in the Crimea.....Incidentally, the original screenplay didn't include the Crimean War segment. However, it was feared that it was too similar to the recently released popular "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer"Henry Stephenson, who generally played fatherly authority figures in many films of the '30s and '40s, returns from Flynn's first starring role, in "Captain Blood"(as well as the award-winning "Mutiny on the Bounty) of the previous year. In the finale scene, he tells the 3 commanders involved in the charge fiasco that he takes full responsibility, after receiving a letter from Flynn's character admitting that he rewrote Stephenson's orders after having failed to convince Stephenson that his light cavalry unit deserved a chance to try to extract vengeance upon the khan. Stephenson burns his letter, preferring to take the blame in place of than his fallen 'hero'.After the joyous romance of Flynn and Olivia's characters at the end of "Captain Blood", it's curious that Flynn is cast as the odd man out in the triangular love affair in this next pairing, especially since the historical leader of the charge he plays survived the charge. Flynn's character would, of course, again die in "They Died With Their Boots On", in another foolhardy cavalry incident. Again, Olivia played his love interest in their eighth and final film pairing.At least we are spared the gruesome details of the historical massacre of mostly women and children at Cawnpore. Professional butchers were sent and literally hacked the victims to pieces. This instigated a furious response by the British, who slaughtered or burned thousands of Indians in retribution, with the battle cry "Remember Cawnpore".I think it's a toss up whether we see more falling horses during the charge or in "The Comancheros". In the latter, at least the cruel and often lethal use of trip wires to make the horses fall when desired had long since been abandoned.

LeonLouisRicci The Hollywood studio system's conglomerate of talent was starting to coalesce in the mid to late 1930's into a near perfect production machine of a manufactured communal art form. At times the result could be a dazzling demonstration of the Dream Factory's ability to entertain the masses with a film such as this.A slick, glossy, and proud presentation of an historical event, wrapped in Tinsel Town glitter that reflected its lack of concern for accuracy. It did concern itself with the propaganda potential of mass communication and used it with impunity.What a wonderful looking film. The handsome actors and the sprawling finale that, to this day, still manages to get the heart racing. The lavish costumes and impeccable camera work. The rousing musical score and some very realistic "horror of war" scenes despite the restrictions of the new Hays code. You could call this magnificent and it would not be hyperbole.Yes, there is a racist tone and British Colonialism and subjugation is accepted and even honored. But not that much has really changed, even today, has it? We still use the media to exploit political positions and to propagandize.So turn down the lights, draw the curtains, crank up the sound and let the Dream Factory do what the Dream Factory does. Hooray for Hollywood.

zardoz-13 Warner Brothers covered the valorous 600 British cavalry of the Tennyson poem with glory in the studio's stirring tribute to the fearless assault at Balaklava in the face of sheer death. Although the final result of the charge was devastating, history has recorded the incident as a colossal blunder. Director Michael Curtiz and scenarists Michael Jacoby and Rowland Leigh mention the word 'blunder' only once during this black & white film's 116 running time. Indeed, they have changed up most of the names, except for Lord Raglan and the Crimean setting. The story itself is basically revenge motivated and Major Geoffrey Vickers (Errol Flynn of "Captain Blood") emerges as the hero who dies in battle after he runs a lance through the ruthless villain. Warner Brothers took some liberties with the subject matter, but then this was a big-budgeted spectacle and Curtiz films everything with gusto. The unfortunate part of "The Charge of the Light Brigade" is that some 200 horses died during the production. This real-life debacle prompted Congress draft legislation to protect livestock used in movies. Of course, Flynn plays the gallant hero who is so twisted by revenge that he writes orders contrary to Lord Raglan's orders so his regiment can kill the unscrupulous villain, Surat Khan (C. Henry Gordon of "The Crusades"), because he massacred their friends in India.The opening 90-minutes of "The Charge of the Light Brigade" sets up the pay off during last quarter hour. The first half of the action occurs in 1854 in India. The film shows Captain Geoffrey Vickers distinguishing himself against a hostile tribe of armed warriors that out number his troops by creating a ruse. The attacking tribe of riflemen spot clouds of dust rising on the horizon, and Vickers' trickery fools them into believing that a relief column is in route so they retreat. Later, Vickers saves the life of Surat Khan during a leopard hunt when a leopard surprises the defenseless Khan and tries to kill him. Khan promises Vickers that he will repay him. Meanwhile, the treacherous Khan has other devious things up his sleeve. When the storm clouds of war gather about an hour later, the garrison commander of Fort Chukoti, Colonel Campbell (Donald Crisp of "Mutiny on the Bounty"), receives orders to send off the better part of the garrison for maneuvers to impress the enemy. This leaves the garrison seriously undermanned. Major Vickers, promoted for getting his men out of the earlier predicament in the desert, protests, but Campbell assures him that they have more than enough men to protect the women and children. Little does Campbell realize that Khan and his army are watching the regiment head off to Lohana. After the British troops have passed, Khan's men descend from the mountains and launch an attack on the garrison. The following day after the Khan's tribesmen have stormed the fort, the Khan arranges a truce. He sends for Vickers and offers to let him live in exchange for Vicker's act that saved the Khan's life. Naturally, Vickers refuses the offer and returns to the garrison. The surviving British soldiers, among with the wives and children of the dispatched troops, are massacred by the Khan. Of course, Vickers manages to escape on a raft with his sweetheart, Commander Campbell's daughter, Elsa (Olivia de Havilland of "Gone with the Wind"), and they alert the British army. Nevertheless, when Vickers and a relief column commanded by Sir Benjamin Warrenton (Nigel Bruce of "The Pearl of Death") makes it to the garrison, they find everybody else dead, including Campbell.Vickers vows to catch up with Khan and kill him, but he has other troubles to face. Vicker's younger brother Captain Perry Vickers (Patric Knowles of "The Devil's Brigade") has fallen in love with his older brothers fiancée Else. Of course, Colonel Campbell bristles at this treachery on the part of Vicker's brother and his daughter. Incredibly, Else prefers Perry to Geoffrey. Eventually, Geoffrey comes to realize that Else genuinely loves Perry and he can do nothing to change her mind. War erupts between the British and the French against the Russians in the Crimean. The British have laid siege to Sebastopol. When Sir Charles Macefield (Henry Stephenson of "Little Lord Fauntleroy") dictates orders to Vickers, he calls for a retreat. Vickers knows that the Surat Khan is with the Russians. India, it seems, was not big enough for Khan to hide from the authorities so he has joined the Russians. Vickers writes a second set of orders that direct the 27th Lancers to attack the guns. He confronts Perry with a dispatch that must be delivered in person to Macefield. As much as Perry hates the prospect of missing a battle, he takes the note to Macefield. Basically, Vickers has saved his younger brother from the suicidal charge. The dispatch that Macefield receives contains Vickers' admission of guilt that he changed the order. When the British make their valiant charge, the Russians open up with cannons, but the British reach the enemy lines and Vickers plunges a lance into the Khan.During the production of "The Charge of the Light Brigade," the filmmakers relied on trip wires to topple the horses and some 200 horses died. This was indeed a terrible price to pay for this recreation of British history. Mind you, Errol is excellent and Curtiz never lets the action wear out its welcome. The production values are top-notch. David Niven plays a British officer who dies during the Khan's attack on Chukoti. Curtiz comes up with many interesting camera angles during the battle scenes that give the action a larger-than-life feel. Curtiz is ably supported by a great score from "King Kong" composer Max Steiner. If the subject of this military blunder whets your appetite, you should check out director Tony Richardson's superlative, historically accurate version, "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1968).