The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)

★ 6.5 1h 51m IMDb

Drama Adventure War

In 1853, as the British and Russian empires compete to gain and maintain their place in the dreadful Great Game of political intrigues and alliances whose greatest prize is the domination of India and the border territories, Major Geoffrey Vickers must endure several betrayals and misfortunes before he can achieve his revenge at the Balaclava Heights, on October 25, 1854, the most glorious day of the Crimean War.

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Cast

Errol Flynn as Major Geoffrey Vickers Died 1959 · Hobart, Tasmania, Australia Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (June 20, 1909 - October 14, 1959) was an Australian-American actor and writer. He is popularly remembered as a charismatic romantic hero in the eight films he starred in wi...

Olivia de Havilland as Elsa Campbell Died 2020 · Tokyo, Japan Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland DBE (July 1, 1916 - July 25, 2020) was a British-American actress, whose career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films, and was one of the leading mo...

Patric Knowles as Captain Perry Vickers Died 1995 · Horsforth, Yorkshire, England, UK Reginald Lawrence Knowles (11 November 1911 – 23 December 1995) was an English film actor who renamed himself Patric Knowles, a name which reflects his Irish descent. He appeared in films of the 1930s...

Henry Stephenson as Sir Charles Macefield Died 1956 · Granada, British West Indies From Wikipedia Henry Stephenson Garraway (16 April 1871 – 24 April 1956), sometimes credited as Harry Stephenson, was a British stage and film actor. He portrayed friendly and wise Gentleman in many...

Nigel Bruce as Sir Benjamin Warrenton Died 1953 · Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico William Nigel Ernle Bruce, best known as Nigel Bruce, was a British character actor on stage and screen. He was best known for his portrayal of Doctor Watson in a series of films and in the radio ser...

Director Michael Curtiz

Cast Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Patric Knowles, Henry Stephenson, Nigel Bruce, Donald Crisp, David Niven, C. Henry Gordon, G.P. Huntley, Robert Barrat

John Chard 9/10 Aug 28, 2014

Into the valley of death rode the 600.

The Charge Of The Light Brigade is a good military film boasting quality action sequences, it's not a true account of the actual event, and it should be noted there is a disclaimer of sorts at the film's beginning.

This telling begins in India in 1850 and leads us up to what would become the Crimean War. Indian chief Surat Khan (C. Henry Gordon) is plotting to sever his ties with the British and pitch his lot in with the Russians in readiness for a total revolt against the Empire. Khan oversees a sneaky bloody massacre of British troops that also see the slaughter of innocent women and children. Pumped up with revenge, Major Vickers (a dashing Errol Flynn) decides to take matters into his own hands and leads a brave charge on the Russians at Balaclava Heights which is where Khan has fled into hiding.

That's all you need to know as regards the plot, there is a love tryst sub-plot between Vickers, his brother Perry (Patric Knowles) and Elsa Campbell (a radiant Olivia de Havilland), but this is merely a side issue to add impetus to the bravery of the men in the charge. It's a rousing picture that provides a quite breath taking final reel as the charge is brought vividly to life by director Michael Curtiz.

Sadly many horses and a stuntman were killed during the shooting of the famous charge, the then legal use of trip wires to impact falling horses taking its toll with very tragic results. The practice was brought into the public eye the following year as congress raised the issue about the treatment of animals in motion pictures, thankfully the practice has long since been outlawed. A bit of a sad taint to the film for sure, but it was a golden age for cinema and nobody was doing anything deemed illegal at the time, and lets not hide the fact that the result is truly dynamite. 8/10

CinemaSerf 7/10 Jun 19, 2022

Errol Flynn leads a workmanlike cast in this tale immortalised by Alfred, Lord Tennyson about a seemingly suicidal charge at the battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. This story is really about empire - British and Russian - and of the manipulation, tactics (and/or, downright bribery) employed by both on those whom they needed to protect it. C Henry Gordon plays one such character "Surat Khan" who longs to rid his nation of the British and the story revolves around his actions so to do. This is a good boys-own action film with a strong supporting cast: Olivia de Havilland as the daughter of the doughty Colonel (Donald Crisp) who shares her fickle affections between Flynn and his brother (Patric Knowles) and a good team effort from Nigel Bruce and Spring Byington. Mostly fiction, but fun to watch nonetheless.