The Charge of the Light Brigade

8/28/2014

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 Bal

6/19/2022

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