The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) on Netflix
Approved19361h 55mActionAdventureRomance
Major Geoffrey Vickers of the 27th Lancers is engaged to Elsa Campbell, who loves his brother Perry. When Surat Khan's warriors overrun the garrison at Chukoti, Vickers vows revenge.
- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb7.0/105,917 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes67%
Trailer
Plot summary
Captain Geoffrey Vickers and his brother Perry both serve with the 27th Lancers in India, in the years of East India Company rule. Geoffrey is engaged to Elsa Campbell, who has fallen in love with Perry, and Geoffrey does not know it. While hunting with the local rajah, Surat Khan, Geoffrey comes to the rajah's rescue, and Surat Khan promises to repay the debt. Later, now a major, Geoffrey is posted with British military families at the garrison of Chukoti, which lies inside territory Surat Khan controls. A British miscalculation withdraws troops early to Lohara, leaving Chukoti exposed, and under siege Col. Campbell surrenders the garrison.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The battlefield set of the climactic Balaclava charge was lined with tripwires: 125 horses were tripped, and 25 were killed or put down afterward.
- Errol Flynn, an accomplished horseman, was so outraged by the animal cruelty and by director Michael Curtiz's seeming indifference that he attacked Curtiz; the two were pulled apart before serious damage was done.
- The charge sequence's horse deaths forced the U.S. Congress to act to ensure the safety of animals in future motion pictures, and the ASPCA followed by banning tripwires from all films.
- Because of the number of horses killed in the charge, Warner Bros. never re-released the film, unlike Flynn's other hits; it went unseen until 1956, when the studio sold it and other pre-1950 films to Associated Artists Productions.
- Director Michael Curtiz, whose command of English was weak, shouted "Bring on the empty horses" for riderless horses, and David Niven took the phrase as the title of his second memoir.
- Edward G. Robinson tested for the lead villain Surat Khan, Basil Rathbone was also considered, and C. Henry Gordon was finally cast in the part.
- Patric Knowles, who had joined Warner Bros. on the recommendation of Irving Asher, the man who also recommended Errol Flynn, was given the role of Flynn's brother because the two looked almost exactly alike.
- Errol Flynn was pulled from supporting Fredric March in Anthony Adverse to take the lead in this film after his impression in Captain Blood; Ian Hunter was connected early on and Anita Louise was announced as the female lead.
