The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968 film)
Encyclopedia
The Charge of the Light Brigade is a 1968 British war film
made 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
.
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. Laurence Harvey
had originally purchased the film rights for The Reason Why for his own production company and Joseph E. Levine
. At the conclusion of a lengthy settlement in Richardson's favour, Harvey demanded a role in the film. He was given the role of Prince Radziwell, a Polish officer with the Heavy Brigade
, but his part was edited out of the completed film.
Brigade
(a military engagement during the Crimean War
by the 'Light Brigade' of the British Army
's cavalry
division
). The Light Brigade consisted of the 4th Light Dragoons; the 17th Lancers
, the 8th Hussars and 11th Hussars
. The Brigade was commanded at the time by Major General
James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan.
The Brigade's aristocrat
ic 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 was 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.
Film Awards, but failed to win in any category. It was criticized for presenting an impulsive and haughty Captain Louis Nolan as a hero and an officer's adventurous wife Fanny Duberly as a brainless whore eager for carnage.
In the film all of the Light Brigade regiments are outfitted with cherry coloured breeches when only the 11th Hussars
wore breeches of that colour. Officers and troopers of the other four regiments wore dark blue breeches, with double yellow stripes, or in the case of the 17th Lancers, double white stripes. In one scene a single trooper of the 17th is correctly attired.
, St James's, London, a few doors along from the earl's actual London residence of 17 Carlton House Terrace. Other London street scenes were filmed in the Royal Naval Hospital
, Greenwich. The Royal Mint
, opposite The Tower of London, represented Horseguards
, the headquarters of the Army. 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
with the action sequences directed by Bob Simmons
.
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
made by Woodfall Film Productions and distributed by United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
(which held the rights to the 1936 film version
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936 film)
The Charge of the Light Brigade is a 1936 historical film made by Warner Bros. It was directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Samuel Bischoff, with Hal B. Wallis as executive producer, from a screenplay by Michael Jacoby and Rowland Leigh, from a story by Michael Jacoby based on the poem The...
at the time). It was directed by Tony Richardson
Tony Richardson
Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson was an English theatre and film director and producer.-Early life:Richardson was born in Shipley, Yorkshire in 1928, the son of Elsie Evans and Clarence Albert Richardson, a chemist...
and produced by Neil Hartley
Neil Hartley
Stuart Neil Hartley is an English first-class cricketer, who appeared for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and Orange Free State in a ten year career which began in 1978....
.
Screenplay
The screenplay was written by Charles WoodCharles Wood (playwright)
Charles Wood is a playwright and scriptwriter for radio, television, and film. He lives in England....
from a first draft (uncredited) by John Osborne
John Osborne
John James Osborne was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor and critic of the Establishment. The success of his 1956 play Look Back in Anger transformed English theatre....
. It aimed to be brutally authentic, based in part on the research in Cecil Woodham-Smith
Cecil Woodham-Smith
Cecil Blanche Woodham-Smith was a British historian and biographer. She wrote four popular history books, each dealing with a different aspect of the Victorian era.-Early life:...
'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
John Addison
John Mervyn Addison was a British composer best known for his film scores.Addison was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire and at the age of sixteen entered the Royal College of Music. He studied composition with Gordon Jacob, oboe with Léon Goossens, and clarinet with Frederick Thurston. ...
and the cinematography by David Watkin.
Cast
| Trevor Howard Trevor Howard Trevor Howard , born Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith, was an English film, stage and television actor.-Early life:... |
Lord Cardigan James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan Lieutenant General James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, KCB , was an officer in the British Army who commanded the Light Brigade during the Crimean War... |
| Vanessa Redgrave Vanessa Redgrave Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning... |
Clarissa |
| John Gielgud John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937... |
Lord Raglan FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan Field Marshal FitzRoy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan, GCB, PC , known before 1852 as Lord FitzRoy Somerset, was a British soldier.-Early life:... |
| Harry Andrews Harry Andrews Harry Fleetwood Andrews, CBE was an English film actor known for his frequent portrayals of tough military officers. His performance as Sergeant Major Wilson in The Hill alongside Sean Connery earned Andrews the 1965 National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor and a nomination for the... |
Lord Lucan |
| Jill Bennett | Mrs. Fanny Duberly Frances Isabella Duberly Fanny Duberly was an adventurous soldier’s wife from the Crimean War and Sepoy Mutiny. Her husband, Captain Henry Duberly, was the paymaster to the 8th Royal Irish Hussars, part of the famed Light Brigade of Balaclava... |
| David Hemmings David Hemmings David Edward Leslie Hemmings was an English film, theatre and television actor as well as a film and television director and producer.... |
Capt. Nolan |
| Joely Richardson Joely Richardson Joely Kim Richardson is an English actress, most known recently for her role as Queen Catherine Parr in the Showtime television show The Tudors and Julia McNamara in the television drama Nip/Tuck... |
Extra (uncredited) |
| Natasha Richardson Natasha Richardson Natasha Jane Richardson was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson... |
Flower girl at wedding (uncredited) |
The film starred Trevor Howard
Trevor Howard
Trevor Howard , born Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith, was an English film, stage and television actor.-Early life:...
as Lord Cardigan
James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan
Lieutenant General James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, KCB , was an officer in the British Army who commanded the Light Brigade during the Crimean War...
, John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
as Lord Raglan
FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan
Field Marshal FitzRoy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan, GCB, PC , known before 1852 as Lord FitzRoy Somerset, was a British soldier.-Early life:...
, and Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
, Harry Andrews
Harry Andrews
Harry Fleetwood Andrews, CBE was an English film actor known for his frequent portrayals of tough military officers. His performance as Sergeant Major Wilson in The Hill alongside Sean Connery earned Andrews the 1965 National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor and a nomination for the...
, Jill Bennett, David Hemmings
David Hemmings
David Edward Leslie Hemmings was an English film, theatre and television actor as well as a film and television director and producer....
, Ben Aris
Ben Aris
Benjamin Patrick Aris was an English actor who was best known for his parts in Hi-de-Hi! and To the Manor Born, and was also very active on stage. He was often cast as an eccentric, upper-class man....
, Peter Bowles
Peter Bowles
-Early life:Bowles was born in London, England, the son of Sarah Jane and Herbert Reginald Bowles. His father was a chauffeur and butler at a stately home in Warwickshire; but, upon the outbreak of World War II, he was seconded to work as an engineer at Rolls-Royce and moved the family to Nottingham...
, Helen Cherry
Helen Cherry
Helen Cherry was an English stage and film actress.-Career:Helen Mary Cherry was born at Thurgarton, Worsley, Lancashire, the daughter of John William Cherry, a works manager then serving as a captain in the 45th Provisional Battalion, and his wife, Annie Nall.Educated in Harrogate, Helen Cherry...
, Howard Marion-Crawford
Howard Marion-Crawford
Howard Marion-Crawford , the grandson of writer F. Marion Crawford, was an English character actor, best known for his portrayal of Dr. Watson in the 1954 television adaptation of Sherlock Holmes...
, T.P. McKenna and Donald Wolfit
Donald Wolfit
Sir Donald Wolfit, KBE was a well-known English actor-manager.-Biography:Wolfit, who was "Woolfitt" at birth was born at New Balderton, near Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire and attended the Magnus Grammar School and made his stage début in 1920...
. It was also the movie debut of Natasha Richardson
Natasha Richardson
Natasha Jane Richardson was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...
, who was aged four at the time of filming. Laurence Harvey
Laurence Harvey
Laurence Harvey was a Lithuanian-born actor who achieved fame in British and American films.- Early life :Harvey maintained throughout his life that his birth name was Laruschka Mischa Skikne. However, his legal name was Zvi Mosheh Skikne. He was the youngest of three boys born to Ber "Boris" and...
had originally purchased the film rights for The Reason Why for his own production company and Joseph E. Levine
Joseph E. Levine
Joseph E. Levine was an American film producer.He was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His Embassy Pictures Corporation was an independent studio and distributor responsible for such films as Hercules , The Carpetbaggers, Harlow, The Graduate, A Bridge Too Far and The Lion in Winter.Levine is famous...
. At the conclusion of a lengthy settlement in Richardson's favour, Harvey demanded a role in the film. He was given the role of Prince Radziwell, a Polish officer with the Heavy Brigade
Heavy Brigade
A heavy brigade is a formation made up from 'Heavy' Cavalry; i.e. Dragoon Guards and Dragoons.The Heavy Brigade was a British heavy cavalry unit commanded by General Sir James York Scarlett at the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War...
, but his part was edited out of the completed film.
Themes
The film is about the famous foolishness of the Charge of the LightCharge of the Light Brigade
The Charge of the Light Brigade was a charge of British cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War. The charge was the result of a miscommunication in such a way that the brigade attempted a much more difficult objective...
Brigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
(a military engagement during the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
by the 'Light Brigade' of the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
's cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
division
Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
). The Light Brigade consisted of the 4th Light Dragoons; the 17th Lancers
17th Lancers
The 17th Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, notable for its participation in the Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War...
, the 8th Hussars and 11th Hussars
11th Hussars
The 11th Hussars was a cavalry regiment of the British Army.-History:The regiment was founded in 1715 as Colonel Philip Honeywood's Regiment of Dragoons and was known by the name of its Colonel until 1751 when it became the 11th Regiment of Dragoons...
. The Brigade was commanded at the time by Major General
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan.
The Brigade's aristocrat
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
ic 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 was 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.
Recognition
The Charge of the Light Brigade was nominated for six BAFTABritish Academy of Film and Television Arts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
Film Awards, but failed to win in any category. It was criticized for presenting an impulsive and haughty Captain Louis Nolan as a hero and an officer's adventurous wife Fanny Duberly as a brainless whore eager for carnage.
Departures from history
The film incorrectly portrays Captain Nolan, instead of Captain John Reynolds, at the centre of the 'black bottle' affair when Moselle wine was ordered for a guest, rather than the champagne that Lord Cardigan had required.In the film all of the Light Brigade regiments are outfitted with cherry coloured breeches when only the 11th Hussars
11th Hussars
The 11th Hussars was a cavalry regiment of the British Army.-History:The regiment was founded in 1715 as Colonel Philip Honeywood's Regiment of Dragoons and was known by the name of its Colonel until 1751 when it became the 11th Regiment of Dragoons...
wore breeches of that colour. Officers and troopers of the other four regiments wore dark blue breeches, with double yellow stripes, or in the case of the 17th Lancers, double white stripes. In one scene a single trooper of the 17th is correctly attired.
Locations
The scene where troopers rush into position to salute Cardigan as he takes a morning walk with his dogs was shot at 6 Carlton House TerraceCarlton House Terrace
Carlton House Terrace refers to a street in the St. James's district of the City of Westminster in London, England, and in particular to two terraces of white stucco-faced houses on the south side of the street overlooking St. James's Park. These terraces were built in 1827–32 to overall designs by...
, St James's, London, a few doors along from the earl's actual London residence of 17 Carlton House Terrace. Other London street scenes were filmed in the Royal Naval Hospital
Greenwich Hospital
Greenwich Hospital can refer to:*Greenwich Hospital , USA*Greenwich Hospital , UK...
, Greenwich. The Royal Mint
Royal Mint
The Royal Mint is the body permitted to manufacture, or mint, coins in the United Kingdom. The Mint originated over 1,100 years ago, but since 2009 it operates as Royal Mint Ltd, a company which has an exclusive contract with HM Treasury to supply all coinage for the UK...
, opposite The Tower of London, represented Horseguards
Horse Guards (building)
Horse Guards is a large grade I listed building in the Palladian style between Whitehall and Horse Guards Parade in London, England. It was built between 1751 and 1753 by John Vardy to a design by William Kent. The building was constructed on the site of the Guard House of the old Whitehall Palace,...
, the headquarters of the Army. The barracks scenes in the first half of the film were filmed at Aldershot
Aldershot
Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, while the 'Crimea' scenes, including the Charge itself, were filmed in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
with the action sequences directed by Bob Simmons
Bob Simmons (stunt man)
Bob Simmons was an English actor and stunt man, best known for his work in many British made films, most notably the James Bond series.-Biography:...
.