Charge of the Light Brigade (1968)

Tony Richardson's film about the colossal Crimean War blunder combines his sociopolitical anger with the splendors of a David Lean epic for a fascinating artifact of that boiling-point protest year, 1968. Like America's contemporaneous Vietnam War, Britain's mid-19th-century conflict with Russia in defense of Turkey made less sense the deeper they sank into it; John Gielgud's Lord Raglan keeps referring absentmindedly to the enemy as "the French"! Aside from a peripheral romantic triangle involving apparently the single sane officer in Her Majesty's army (David Hemmings), his friend (Mark Burns), and the friend's wife (Vanessa Redgrave--Mrs. Richardson), the film is really about the profoundly jingoistic Victorian imagination; transitional animation sequences by Richard Williams seem to plunge us directly into the British national psyche. Somewhat muddled as drama, but irresistibly persuasive in its historical detail and stunning camerawork (David Watkin, Chariots of Fire), The Charge of the Light Brigade is a prime candidate for rediscovery. --Richard T. Jameson Amazon.com

History meets Monty Python

War is a serious business, but not to the makers of this film who every so often inserted an animation sequence most certainly inspired by those done by Monty Python. Except this is not a comedy. Made in 1968 the anti Vietnam war influence is also in evidence. If you do not like someone who is a history buff this would make a good present otherwise avoid this turkey. December 28, 2008

Alarming and Understandable

I found this DVD on the Charge of the Light Brigade to be an excellent piece of work. OF course one should read up on the major problems the British and French had in getting to the Crimea. All the actors did a great Job. The arrogance of the true Characters who were in the Crimea and in the War were portrayed with great accuracy by the actors. Couldn't have picked a better bunch of actors to bring this disaster to the screen. I recommend this movie to help understand what happen in the Crimean War. Hurdrey-Angus Jordan April 13, 2008

A true portrayal of British Army life in 1854...except for...

This 1968 version of the Charge of the Light Brigade was, for the most part, an accurate portrayal of the British Army at the time of the Crimean War in 1854. The uniforms and actions of both officers and rankers are depicted as they were. A few scenes that didn't happen during the war, however, were thrown in for dramatic effect and to create tension among the various characters involved in the film leading up to the ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade. One episode shown in the movie that was inaccurately presented was the "Black Bottle Affair." Lord Cardigan (played by Trevor Howard), a snob and buffoon in real life, accused one of his officers, Capt. John Reynolds, a former "East India Company Officer" whom he despised, and not, as shown in the movie, Capt. Lewis Edward Nolan (David Hemmings), of serving a bottle of porter in the officers mess instead of champagne as he had ordered to be served. Another scene has Cardigan plying Mrs. Fanny Duberly (Jill Bennet) with drink in order to seduce her. Although Cardigan was a notorious womanizer, he was never accused of having an illicit affair with Fanny. Those minor inaccuracies aside, this was a very good film about the incompetence of the British General Staff during the war that led to the destruction of the Light Brigade. I will admit though, the 1936 movie version starring Errol Flynn and Olivia De Havilland was much more exciting despite the many glaring historical inaccuracies. If you are a history buff, read THE REASON WHY by Cecil Woodham-Smith...if not, just sit back with a bag of popcorn and enjoy the movie. January 17, 2008

TorpanInternational

This film is a piece of historical record,but thats as far as it went.

Im sad that the screen writer want to concentrate on forification ,as much as did.More explaination of the object ---history would have brought it up to a higher standard.

Sorry it didnt go to 3 stars March 15, 2007

Worst War Movie Ever

This was the worst war movie I've ever seen.
It was hard to sit through and the ending was even worse.
...and I like war movies. January 17, 2007

More reviews at Amazon.com ...