Classic Movie Review: 'The Charge of the Light Brigade'
Most of America’s TV markets have one or more “indies,” and the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area of my childhood was no exception. Most of the local stations could be found on the UHF channels, but WCIX-TV (Channel Six) was on the “regular” VHF dial right next to the affiliates of the Big Three networks (ABC, CBS and NBC).
Along with the indies’ standard fare of children’s programming, reruns of syndicated dramas and sitcoms, and local newscasts, WCIX aired a plethora of older Hollywood films. With rare exceptions, in the early to mid-1970s these flicks were mostly from the 1930s, ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s.
One of the films I remember from the WCIX era is Warner Bros. 1936 The Charge of the Light Brigade. Written by Michael Jacoby and Rowland Leigh, the film was directed by Michael Curtiz (Captain Blood, Casablanca) and starred Errol Flynn, Patric Knowles, and Olivia de Havilland.
Inspired by Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s eponymous poem about an actual battle of the Crimean War, The Charge of the Light Brigade spins a totally fictitious story about two British Army officers, Major Geoffrey Vickers (Flynn) and his younger brother, Captain Perry Vickers.
Both men are posted with the 27th Lancers cavalry regiment in the fictitious land of Suristan, which supposedly lies in the Indian subcontinent.
There, trouble is brewing as the restive populace, led by the duplicitous rajah Surat Khan (C. Henry Gordon), is preparing to rebel against the domination of the British East India Company. The British know that a successful rebellion might result in Britain’s loss of the “crown jewel” of her Empire, so they forestall any hostile moves by Surat Khan with regular payments of tribute. (In other words, they bribe him.)
Things come to a head when Geoffrey Vickers and other officers arrive at the rajah’s palace and tell Surat Khan that there will be no more tributes. Though the evil Amir (his official title) pretends to take this calmly, not even the fact that Surat Khan owes Geoffrey his life can prevent war between the wily rajah and the British. Using a missed tributary payment as an excuse, Khan incites a bloody rebellion in Suristan and attacks the garrison at Chukoti while the 27th Lancers are on training maneuvers. Khan, seeking to drive the British out by any means possible, spares almost no one, not even most of the women and children. (He does alow Perry and Elsa to leave Chukoti to repay Geoffrey's lifesaving deed earlier in the film.)
Khan also decides to form an alliance with Russia, which is about to war with Turkey and her British and French allies. This isn’t too surprising; the Amir had threatened to do so if the British didn’t renew their tributary payments. Now, with his Suristani rebellion underway and the British Army in pursuit, Surat Khan throws his lot with the Czar of Russia.
Meanwhile, Perry Vickers has been wooing his brother’s fiancée, Lady Elsa Warrenton (De Havilland), in a sub rosa affair. Geoffrey is unaware of this betrayal of trust, so part of the dramatic suspense hangs on whether or not he finds out that he’s the third leg of a romantic triangle.
The brothers part way when Perry – who serves in another regiment – is ordered to join the British contingent of the Allied force on the Crimea. Geoffrey, in the meantime, is ordered to procure more horses for the 27th Lancers before the unit is also sent to fight against the Russians.
Will Geoffrey ever discover that his brother has been wooing Lady Elsa? Will the evil Surat Khan face his British foes on the battlefields of Russia? Will the 27th Lancers be sent to the Crimea?
My Take: Although The Charge of the Light Brigade is very loosely based on several historical events which took place in the 19th Century, it’s best watched more as an escapist adventure drama than an accurate depiction of the British campaigns in India and the Crimea.
Neither Michael Curtiz, the Hungarian-born director of Errol Flynn’s first big Hollywood film Captain Blood nor the producers at Warner Bros. intend for the film to be a semi-documentary about a couple of wars which most Depression-era viewers may not even have heard of. If this had been their intention, they probably would have asked Michael Jacoby and Rowland Leigh for a rewrite which focused more on the rivalry between Lords Cardigan and Raglan and explained why Britain, France and Turkey were fighting the Russians in the 1850s.
Like many of Warner Bros. Studios’ “historical” pictures of the era, the emphasis of Charge of the Light Brigade is on escapism and swashbuckling adventure, spiced up with a love triangle and a quest for vengeance against an old adversary. In short, this movie is geared for an audience who seeks entertainment, not a short course on the follies of British imperialism.
To be sure, astute watchers will pick up on some of the history behind the fiction. There were some very violent anti-British rebellions in India during the 1850s. The most famous rebellion – the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 – was the basis for some of the movie’s early India sequences, particularly the revolt of Suristan. Early drafts of the screenplay referred to real incidents of the Sepoy Mutiny; these were hastily changed after someone pointed out that the Crimean War took place before the mutiny.
Thus, in broad terms, we do see some of the aspects of British imperial policies in Asia and Europe. The Royal Navy did rule the seas of the 19th Century, and the British Army did serve as a constabulary force to keep the colonies in line. Britain also endeavored to keep the balance of power in Europe on an even keel – which is why she joined her former archrival France to protect the Ottoman Empire from Russian expansionism.
That having been said, The Charge of the Light Brigade falls into the same wartime romance genre as D-Day: The Sixth of June and Hanover Street. All three use real wars as their canvas, but all the events depicted are Hollywood fantasy.
The dramatic focus of the story, even when it comes to the famous – or infamous – charge of the Light Brigade, is the tricky love triangle between Geoffrey Vickers, his brother Perry, and the woman they both love.
Even though Errol Flynn didn’t like director Michael Curtiz’s heavy handed ways on the set, he plays Geoffrey Vickers with all the charm, masculinity and military presence he could muster as an actor. He is brave on the field of battle, witty and dashing in his scenes with Olivia de Havilland, and dogged dispenser of justice during his pursuit of Surat Khan.
The Charge of the Light Brigade is an extremely well-made movie. Warner Bros. spent $1.2 million dollars (in 1936 dollars, this was a huge sum) and it clearly shows. The sets are impressive-looking and seem fairly authentic, while the big set-piece battle which gives the movie its name is spectacular in scope and emotional impact. With quotes from Tennyson’s poem and a stirring Max Steiner score, the viewer truly rides “into the valley of Death” along with the valiant six hundred cavalrymen who make the charge at Balklava.
The one negative thing about The Charge of the Light Brigade is that, in an effort to make the British cavalry charge look realistic and tragic, the horses were “tripped” by wires placed in their path.
During the filming of the climactic cavalry charge, 125 horses were tripped on the battlefield location set to simulate casualties caused by enemy fire, and over two dozen were killed outright or were injured so severely that they had to be put down afterward. As a result, Errol Flynn joined a campaign for a Congressional ban on wiring in films, and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals added the technique to its guidelines on how filmmakers should treat horses and other animals on set. (In fact, Warner Bros. never re-released The Charge of the Light Brigade in theaters because of the controversial use of wiring and the number of equine deaths that resulted from it. It’s the only Errol Flynn picture of the era that was never re-released for the silver screen; it is, however, available on various home video formats.)
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