11/22/2023 0 Comments The charge of the light brigade movieIn any case, they can only see one valley – the wrong one. The leaders on the field (Lords Cardigan and Lucan, who hate each other), however, bicker over the instruction. There are two valleys in front of him, one with the stolen weapons, and the other containing the full might of the Russian forces. Raglan, watching from a vantage point, issues unclear instructions for the Light Brigade to recover armaments captured by the Russians. So to October 1854 and the Battle of Balaklava. The second half of the film shows the contrast between the jollity of those at the top enjoying their military adventure, and the brutal reality of a conflict beset with errors and a huge loss of life, even before the fateful charge.Īt one point, officers are playing cricket, whilst other men injured in battle are having their limbs amputated without anaesthetic. Again the parallels with more recent conflicts are all too obvious. We now see the British people being whipped up into a frenzy over ‘the Russians’ so that war can finally be waged. Lord Raglan (John Gielgud) gives Nolan a post in his office to head-off the conflict, for now anyway. This leads him into conflict with Nolan, who stands up to Cardigan. The man in charge of the Light Brigade is Lord Cardigan (Trevor Howard) – an upper-class self-promoter who hates the more professional officers underneath him. This layer is represented in the film by the important historical character of Captain Nolan (David Hemmings), who would later be scapegoated for the disaster of the Charge. In the middle are those who have seen actual conflict and are calling for professionalism of the army. At the other end of the scale, the officers and generals are drawn from the ranks of the ruling class, with assorted Lords able to just buy senior command, despite knowing nothing. The ranks live in squalor and are brutally treated. We see a British army, idle and led by officers desperate for ‘adventure’. The first part of the film takes place in the year leading up to the war. It is both stirring, yet hinting at a darkness to come. As the Russian bear attacks ‘poor old’ Turkey, the English lion wakes, roars and…puts on a British Bobby’s hat.Īs the film credits roll, we see scenes of industry and trade, including sweatshops and child labour in the mines – all watched over by a hand-waving Queen Victoria and set against a mock-heroic score by John Addison. The animated sequence which opens the film demonstrates this to great effect. But, in reality, it was an imperialist fight for control over the territories of the fading Ottoman Empire.įrom the start, the film makes great use of Richard Williams’ extraordinary animation, done in the style of the old newspaper and Punch magazine illustrations of the time. The excuse for the war was religious persecution and the need to ‘defend’ Turkey. This was a conflict between Britain and France on the one side, and Russia on the other. The Charge took place during the Battle of Balaklava, at the height of the Crimean War (1853- 56). Tony Richardson’s 1968 film, now released on Blu-ray and on streaming platforms, was an attempt to show what really happened and, more to the point, to highlight some of the similarities to more recent military excursions, particularly the Vietnam War. The Charge has entered into heroic mythology, showing British ‘spirit’ up against terrible odds. So too with the Charge of the Light Brigade of October 1854 – a major military failure, duly immortalized in Tennyson’s famous poem. Particularly those that come under the category of huge blunders, be it Dunkirk, or Scott of the Antarctic. There has long been an odd tradition in England of glorifying defeats and disasters. This comes at a very timely moment, given the humiliation inflicted upon Western imperialism in Afghanistan. Tony Richardson’s classic film about Britain’s disastrous battle in the Crimean War has recently been re-released.
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