The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) on Netflix
Britain sends an army to the Crimea to fight Russia in the 1850s. Captain Louis Nolan, promoted on merit, serves in Lord Cardigan's light cavalry, which Cardigan treats as his own.
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Plot summary
Britain enters the Crimean War with an army bound by bureaucracy and outmoded social values. Captain Louis Nolan, a veteran of the Indian Presidency armies who earned his rank on merit, regards his aristocratic colleagues with contempt. His commander, Lord Cardigan, treats his regiment as personal property and resents Nolan as an Indian officer. The two fall into a public feud. Above them, Lord Raglan, an amiable but vague-minded Waterloo veteran, has placed Cardigan under his brother-in-law and rival, Lord Lucan. Nolan serves as Raglan's aide, partly to escape an uneasy affair with Clarissa Morris, the wife of his friend William. The paymaster's wife, Fanny Duberly, travels to the Crimea to watch the fighting. There cholera tears through the British force while the commanders look on indifferent.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Laurence Harvey had bought the film rights to The Reason Why for his own company and Joseph E. Levine; after a lengthy settlement in Tony Richardson's favour, Harvey demanded a role and was given Prince Radziwill, a Polish officer, but his part was edited out of the finished film.
- Tony Richardson approached Rex Harrison to play Lord Cardigan, but a newspaper wrongly reported that George C. Scott had the role; the infuriated Harrison dropped out and Trevor Howard was cast instead.
- The film puts Captain Nolan at the center of the Moselle wine feud with Lord Cardigan, but the 'black bottle' affair really concerned Captain John Reynolds, who ordered Moselle for a guest instead of the champagne Cardigan required.
- The scene of troopers saluting Cardigan on his morning walk with his dogs was shot at 6 Carlton House Terrace in London, a few doors from the earl's real residence at 17 Carlton House Terrace; the Royal Mint doubled for Army headquarters at Horseguards.
- Director Tony Richardson said the Charge of the Heavy Brigade was filmed for the Battle of Balaclava sequence but was later cut at the studio's behest.
- The film shows Fanny Duberly being seduced by Lord Cardigan, but the real Fanny Duberly, though she was in the Crimea, never had an affair with him.
