The Charge of the Light Brigade is a British war film made in 1968 by Woodfall Film Productions and distributed by United Artists (which held the rights to the 1936 film version at the time). It was directed by Tony Richardson and produced by Neil Hartley.
The screenplay was written by Charles Wood from a first draft (uncredited) by John Osborne. It aimed to be brutally authentic, based in part on the research in Cecil Woodham-Smith's The Reason Why (1953). The film included animations by Richard Williams, based on the contemporary graphic style of Punch Magazine, in order to explain the political events surrounding the battle. The music score was by John Addison and the cinematography by David Watkin.
The film starred Trevor Howard as Lord Cardigan, John Gielgud as Lord Raglan, and Vanessa Redgrave, Harry Andrews, Jill Bennett, David Hemmings, Ben Aris, Peter Bowles, Helen Cherry, Howard Marion-Crawford, T.P. McKenna and Donald Wolfit. It was also the movie debut of Natasha Richardson, who was aged four at the time of filming.
The film is about the famous foolishness of a military engagement during the Crimean War by the 'Light Brigade': a division of the British Army's cavalry which consisted of the 4th and 13th Light Dragoons, the 17th Lancers, and the 8th and 11th Hussars, and was commanded at the time by Major General the Earl of Cardigan.
The Brigade's aristocratic officers are depicted as incompetents who were more concerned with appearances than with substance, and who disdained doing the real work of training and leading their men. Critical to the historical events were the fact that the commanders on the hill above could see gun positions that the cavalry lower down could not, due to the hilly terrain as shown in the film's climax by a shift in lens optics by cinematographer David Watkin.
The Charge of the Light Brigade was nominated for six BAFTA Film Awards, but failed to win in any category. It was criticized for presenting an impulsive and haughty captain Nolan as a hero[citation needed] and soldier's adventurous wife Fanny Duberly as a brainless whore eager for carnage.[1]
The barracks scenes in the first half of the film were filmed at Aldershot in Hampshire, while the 'Crimea' scenes, including the Charge itself, were filmed in Turkey.
Cast
References
- ^ Fraser, George MacDonald (1986). The Hollywood History of the World. London: Michael Joseph. p. 161. ISBN 0718129970. "I don't know on what authority Mrs Duberly can be accused of misconduct, but if none exists (and I have heard of none) then her portrayal in the film is inexcusable"
External links
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The films of Tony Richardson |
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Othello (1955) • It Should Happen to a Dog (1955) • "BBC Sunday Night Theatre" (1955) • "ITV Play of the Week" (1956) • "The Sunday-Night Play" (1960) • A Death in Canaan (1978) • The Penalty Phase (1986) • Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun (1988) • Women and Men: Stories of Seduction (1990) (with Frederic Raphael and Ken Russell) • The Phantom of the Opera (1990)
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