Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

So-so WW1 drama.The story of a unit of soldiers in the Australian Light Horse, fighting in the Sinai and Palestine in WW1. Given its historic context, it should be a decent war drama.However, it is rather lacklustre and amateurish. First problem is that this was made in 1940, ie during World War 2, so is first and foremost a propaganda movie. The empty patriotism and manipulation is laid on thick. The Australians are all fantastic, likable, soldiers. The Germans are all evil and inept. (Some respect is shown for the Turks, but this may be because Turkey was neutral in WW2).Then we have the random, out-of-place, lame speeches. Out of the blue some uneducated soldier from a country town starts pontificating on the meaning of life and war, etc.To make things worse, the writers and director manage to throw in an unlikely romance (no, it doesn't involve a horse...), just to make things really silly.Acting is fairly woeful, but that may be due to the script and direction.On the plus side, the battle scenes are good and you do get a good sense of the history and bravery involved.For a much better, more realistic and grittier depiction of the Australian Light Horse's exploits in the Sinai and Palestine in WW1, especially the Battle of Beersheba, watch "The Lighthorsemen" (1987) instead. A great movie.

Of course, since my dad passed away many years ago, I can't verify this. But I do remember him telling us kids that, as a member of the Australian Army Signals Corp, he and many of his fellow soldiers were recruited as horsemen to ride over the Kurnell sand hills as extras in this movie.Since this was filmed in 1941, Australia was already in the war. My Dad's was record shows his service in New Guinea as a Lieutenant in the signals corps. I also remember him telling me about how he was trained to ride a motor bike so, along with the horse riding his story about being an extra was probably something to do with preparing them for service overseas.If anybody that reads this is able to provide some verification that would be greatly appreciated.

Begins with a Two-up game when three Australian soldiers win three donkeys and all the clothes from some Arabs, dress the donkeys in the baggy pants and fez and ride into some bar as typical larrikins. Some stereotyped Germans speak flawed English to each other and are depicted as ruthlessly cruel. The love interest disguises herself as a boy with a high pitched voice, soft skin and breasts and fools everyone. She saves an injured soldier whose wound in the top right of his chest miraculously disappears apparently because of the wet cloth she placed on it. Three of the four leads die heroically and the best looking one gets to spend the night with the girl before winning the war and riding off into the sunset with her. Back in 1941 this no doubt would have made men cheer and women swoon, so it is best looked at as an artifact of an age of innocence. The effort expended in filming all those horses would have been huge. The Gaza and Beersheba reconstructions are fair. The acting is stagey. You just have to tolerate the jingoism and stereotypes. The Allies were fighting the Germans again when the film was released, so the propaganda motive is completely understandable.

I definately liked this film mainly because it tells an important battle won by our brave Australian soldiers. Although the charge was made by the Light Horse which was mounted infantry it was the last REAL cavalry charge. The characters were very likeable Jim Bourke (Chips Rafferty) Red Gallagher (Grant Taylor) Larry Bourke (Pat Twohill) are all mates that are in the light horse, they are all Aussie bush men who joined up like so many others because it was the right thing to do. Its nice to see Chips Rafferty as the easy going Aussie bush man that made him famous. This movie was the predecessor to "The Rats Of Tobruk". In many ways they are both quite similar, they both talk about battles that are well known to Australians because they were both won by Australians, and they even use two of the same actors, Chips Rafferty and Grant Taylor. This movie and Rats Of Tobruk make great companions after spending ages looking for them i found copies of both them in the same shop. Both movies are very hard to find and if your a nationalist (like me) it will make you appreciate films like this a lot more so if you see a copy of this movie buy it.