![]() With Tennyson's words superimposed over the screen, we're told that the famous Charge at Balaklava was not vainglorious insanity but one of the most glorious human deeds in history. ![]() The ASPCA probably has a poster for this movie with a black "X" painted on it. ![]() ![]() Steeds tumble, collapse and practically do somersaults the camera lingers to show some getting up afterwards but we're told that a number had to be destroyed. To represent dozens of violent horse falls The Charge of the Light Brigade employs every cruel trip gag known to the wranglers. That line was apparently said, or mangled, by director Michael Curtiz. This is the film where Niven got the title for his autobiography Bring on the Empty Horses. The sequence is quite dynamic George Amy's editing deserves special praise.ĭavid Niven plays Vickers' dashing buddy, who suffers from SADS (Second Act Death Syndrome). Max Steiner's march ratchets up its pace to match the horses as they change gaits. Director Michael Curtiz, his stunt arrangers and the Warners effects department put on a heck of a show. The screenwriters have contrived to relocate the verminous Surat Khan with the Russian defenders in the Crimea (is this even remotely possible?), thus making it essential for Geoffrey to issue false orders and lead his lancers in an insane charge into a valley studded with Russian cannon. When Geoffrey finally accepts the bad news, it's just in time to help motivate him to a new record in self-sacrificing (but personal legend-building) gall: he forges orders and takes his brother's place in a suicide mission.Īll of the above has transpired just to set up Tennyson's Ride of the 600 (sorry, Spartans) into The Valley of Death. Interrupted meetings and the interference of biddy Lady Octavia Warrenton (Spring Byington) drag out the romantic suspense. Olivia de Havilland's beauty would carry much lesser roles but her indecisive Elsa Campbell does little more than fret and shrink at the shame of being engaged to Geoffrey, yet falling in love with Vickers' younger brother Perry (the stiff Patric Knowles). We enjoy a tiger hunt, a fancy dress ball and a few too many cavalry jaunts in an India that greatly resembles the Lone Pine region of California, only bursting with the bombastic themes of Max Steiner. British officers Henry Stephenson, Nigel Bruce and Donald Crisp miscalculate, while young Major Geoffrey Vickers (Flynn) alone intuits Khan's treachery. Henry Gordon) makes an alliance with England's enemy Russia and gleefully massacres hundreds of innocent women and children. When the Brits stop paying some Emirs on the border of "Suristan", a warlord named Surat Khan (C. What the British called the Sepoy Mutiny is considered by India as her First War of Independence. It's implied that English rule would be Utopia, if it weren't for backbiting renegade Emirs conniving with the Queen's enemies. The truth probably isn't quite as nasty as in Tony Richardson's 1968 remake but it's hard not to wince at Michael Jacoby and Rowland Leigh's exaltation of Her Majesty's colonial forces. It is often singled out when an example is needed of history atrociously re-written. The point of this extravagant historical epic seems to be to glorify England and its empire. The Charge of the Light Brigade from 1936 reunites Flynn with Olivia de Havilland not long after their mutual triumph in Captain Blood. Was Flynn perhaps trying to downplay his much-publicized legal problems? In the other four Flynn mainly ignores women, perhaps sees some off-screen and ends up being the unnecessary corner in a romantic triangle. Out of five titles, only the obvious one ( The Adventures of Don Juan) makes him a 9-to-5 skirt chaser, and even there he's sort of on the wagon. Oddly, this isn't the best place to see Errol play the great lover. This time around the titles aren't nearly as stellar, but they include some of the biggest favorites of Flynn fans. Warners return to the classic stable for more films by the dashing Australian swashbuckler and lady killer: Errol Flynn The Signature Collection Volume 2. The Charge of the Light Brigade,* The Dawn Patrol, Dive Bomber,* Gentleman Jim, The Adventures of Don Juanġ:37 flat full frame / Street Date Ma/ 49.98 * avail. The Dawn Patrol, Dive Bomber, Gentleman Jim, Errol Flynn: The Signature Collection Volume 2
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