I remember the day I stopped reading the New York Times, and also realized that most film revivers did NOT have a clue… and that�s when I read the review for Tony Richardson�s �Charge Of The Light Brigade�. The Times Reviewer, a first stage imbecile went on and on about “how Richardson could have made such a glorification of war during the height of the View Nam conflict!” Was this man blind, or did he just sit in some bar drinking his lunch while the film was screen? For Light Brigade is perhaps the greatest ANTI-WAR movie ever made! I could go on for pages about this movie. One of the most amazing aspects is Charles Woods�s screenplay. It is without a doubt the greatest piece of film writing ever. Now that�s a big statement� but I promise you� it�s not an exaggeration. From the very first speech of Trevor Howard, through scene after scene of perfect craftsmanship and dialogue, you are bombarded with a sumptuous love affair of the English language. Add to that one of the most opulently shot period movies this side of Barry Lyndon, and the most amazing animation sequences by Richard Williams (and for the love of God� if you still think this is a pro war movie after those sequences, you really need to be locked away for your own safety!)� and you have a cinema treat the likes of which you will find hard pressed to see anywhere else. From the first bars of John Addison�s quirky emotionally charged, purposely overly blown score, to Williams animated lion�s roar� to the last staggering image of the decapitated horses, silently rotting away in the �Valley of Death�, as only the sounds of flies can be heard� you realize you are watching greatest. You also realize you are watching history the way it really was. Never before or since has anyone dramatized �blunders of great men� so magnificently. The parallels to today�s world (and leaders) are terrifyingly accurate and prophetic! This is a movie that doesn�t age gracefully, it ages with an explosive charge� a pressure cooker of artistic brilliance, that once uncapped, erupts in your face, grabs hold and doesn�t let go until the last credit. Tragically, this movie was way ahead of its time, and has never been given its right dues. Long before the computer generated �tension� of Private Ryan� Richardson and crew created a scene of battle terror that digs deep into your soul and is never forgotten. This is a movie you feel, and smell and taste. From the heat of the Turkish plains, to the stench of the English ships, to the flesh ripping sting of a whipping� �Light Brigade� is truly in a class of its own. The balance of terror, humor, intrigue and human courage� and waste� there is no equal. The only one who �blundered� in this movie was the distributor who ignored it, and the vapid reviewers without a brain, who didn�t realize what they were seeing. But you can� rent or buy this masterpiece and see why I for one, fell in love with both the cinema, and the word.
“They will not fight unless they are flogged to it. Would you ask that of them? Would you ask they fight like fiends of Hell for money? Or h’ideas? That would be unchristian.”
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The Charge of the Light Brigade is one of those films that disappointed me on a first viewing (like many, I was expecting an epic adventure film) but which I love more each time I see it.
Charles Wood’s delicious use of language makes the dialog a joy to listen to, and for the most part the performances do it justice - not just the likes of Trevor Howard, Harry Andrews and John Gielgud’s delightfully vague Lord Raglan, but also the smaller roles like Norman Rossington’s broken Sergeant and Alan Dobie’s impoverished officer Mogg, who makes up in jovial and ignorant arrogance what he lacks in wit. It’s an astonishingly ambitious film, and for the most part succeeds, painting a portrait not just of a time and place but a whole state of mind - it’s not just the bungles of the Crimean War and the casual cruelty of the army in Richardson’s sights but the blind stupidity of Britain’s entire Victorian class system.
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The film is even brave enough to have its nominal hero, David Hemmings’ Captain Nolan, be as inadvertently unsympathetic as the superiors he rails against - he might seem more enlightened, but he’ll still thoughtlessly finish off his men’s breakfast (in one of several scenes cut for this DVD) or push away a wounded soldier. As careless with his men as Raglan is, you can see his point when he dreads the day when professional soldiers like Nolan will run a modern army - “It will be a sad day for England when her armies are led by men who know too well what they are doing- it smacks of murder.”
Perhaps it’s that lack of someone to root for that helped kill the film at the box-office (along with Richardson’s refusal to have press screenings because he felt critics were not intelligent enough to appreciate the film), but I’d still love to see the four-hour rough cut footage emerge from its prison in the BFI’s vaults some day. Several stills exist of deleted scenes (such as Cardigan’s encounter with Russian troops on his return from the charge: they let him go in respect of his rank in reality) and although his part as a Russian Prince was otherwise completely cut, Laurence Harvey can still be briefly glimpsed in the theatre scene (along with Donald Wolfit playing MacBeth).
What gaps were left by the cuts and budget restrictions (not that the film isn’t genuinely spectacular) are admirably filled in by Richard Williams stunningly imaginative and witty animation - old woodcut prints come to life as the British lion puts on his policeman’s helmet to stop Russia assaulting Turkey - and John Addison’s magnificent score. Amazingly, the pity of it all is not lost under the wit, with the starkest of endings as the generals argue over whose fault it is while flies buzz around dead horses. A truly great film.
Sadly, this is not a great DVD.
The transfer is for the most part fine, but the animation sequences and the all but unreadable credits do suffer. What really disappoints is the fact that, like the previous laserdisc issue, this is a heavily cut version missing some 6-7 minutes. The ommission of Vanessa Redgrave’s horrendous singing may be a merciful release, but the ommission of a reel from the Crimea scenes (including the flogging scene of a sentry who inadvertently shot at Raglan and Cardigan subsequently rewarding the flogged man for his bravery) are definitely not. The only extra is a trailer.
Sadly, it appears that despite releasing a video of the longer version (minus a few seconds of vicious horsefalls), the BFI’s R2 DVD is the same cut version, albeit with slightly better extras (an interview with Richard Williams and a silent version of the Charge). Very disappointing.
