Really Surprised!

good back-story, and good acting

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Hard to believe that much of this spectacular was filmed around greater LA— Chatsworth, Agoura Hills, et al. The final charge across open spaces is remarkable for its time. Where, I wonder, did Warners get enough horsemen to fill out the screen. In fact, the entire movie is bursting with massive troop movements that remain impressive. Still, many of those sudden horse plunges during the fabled cavalry charge were brought about by trip wires sending horses and men head over heels. Dramatic, yes; but even crueler since many of the mounts were killed as a result. Thankfully the practice was discontinued largely as a result of the body count here.The storyline fills in a background to Tennyson's famous poem, taking the usual Hollywood liberties with the original. Here it's not just the Russians opposing the Empire: it's also perfidious west Indians. Likely what we would now call Pakistan. Here they ally with the Russians after massacring civilians from the British fortress who believe they're being given safe passage. Of course, this sets up the brigade's desperate cavalry charge in revenge.Certainly, Flynn is at the peak of his swashbuckling career. In my book, he's never had an equal, and a much better actor than he credited himself. De Haviland has only an ancillary role, mainly to provide a little relief from all the guys and inject a little romance and plot rivalry between brothers (Flynn & Knowles). I still don't know how they did the desert fortress. It looks so real I couldn't spot a hint of matting. But did they build it, in addition to all the other expenses. All in all, the production is a marvel, never losing the human element that is always a risk with the new-fangled digital.Anyway, in my little book, it's a look back at vintage Hollywood hitting on all eight even if the message is "rah, rah, British Empire".

I give it a decent grade for action and drama. But like the poem of the same name, the movie glorifies a fine example of stupidity. The charge accomplished nothing militarily. While the brigade was not completely destroyed, it suffered terribly, with 118 men killed, 127 wounded and about 60 taken prisoner. After regrouping, only 195 men still had horses. The futility of the action and its recklessness prompted the commanding French Marshal Pierre Bosquet to state: "It is magnificent, but it is not war. It is madness." The Russian commanders believed that the British soldiers were drunk.So, the next time someone says, "Ours is not to reason why, ours but to do & die," remind them that it's from a poem about a military suicide run.

A lot of the reviews seem to focus on the issue of historical accuracy. I recognize this is a work of fiction and couldn't care less whether it's historically accurate or not, but if you create a movie called "The Charge of the Light Brigade", you should at least be creating a fiction based largely on the subject of the Crimean War. Instead, a fictional connection is made to India, which becomes the scene of 3/4 of the movie. If you want to see a fictional movie about the British in 19th century India, with a brief epilogue involving the Charge, this may be the movie for you. Don't expect to see much of the Crimea in this movie, though.

I just watched it again--I am now 83. I was unhappy with it the first time because I wanted to see something accurate about the Charge of the Light Brigade, not a made up tale. Even the India part of the film was hash, although I did recognize some scraps of history in it. I can be a little kinder to the film now, Errol Flynn was braver and braver as we expected of him! I think the Charge scene is a bit overrated--check it against the Charge Scene in the 1968 GB version--you can hear the Horses scream! That ought to be enough reality for anyone! I won't watch it again. Errol Flynn was the perfect Robin Hood--that is the film I remember him for.