Tony Richardson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade" is a stylish anti-war film in its' commentary on military ineptitude, but it is weakened by subplots. Its critique of class distinctions only occasionally work--particularly in the military scenes--as it tries to fit in as a film like John Schlesinger's "Far From the Madding Crowd" as another period piece commenting on class in Victorian England (and"Brigade," like "Crowd," has a woman being loved by at least two men--in "Crowd" it is three).
The Light Brigade (The 11th Regiment of Hussars) is shabbily run by Lord Cardigan (Trevor Howard), who really is playing the part of a soldier due to his status. He despises any "real" soldier (those who actually have seen combat), especially Captain Lewis Nolan (David Hemmings), a soldier who believes in kindness when handling the army--and his best friend's William's (Mark Burns) wife Clarissa (Vanessa Redgrave).
Cardigan is concerned NOT with an efficient brigade, but a brigade that reflects his elitist attitudes. In the officer's mess scene he ridicules a new recruit for eating lettuce (for being "green," or inexperienced), even though the soldier had the order to do so from Cardigan himself; and that only champagne be drunk at officer's mess and not porter beer--which Cardigan accuses Nolan of drinking (it is actually undecanted Moselle white wine). As one soldier simply puts it, "There is no making without breaking." The poor are often the ones "broken," made to thirst after eating salty mutton, forced to mount horses until they bleed under their uniforms, and having their money stolen. Recruited off of the street, some of them don't even know their right foot from their left.
However, Cardigan has his admirers, especially one Mrs. Duberly, the wife of the Brigade's paymaster (who Cardigan dismisses as not having a rank, but a "trade"). Attracted to image, she sees war more as something done for her amusement, detached from the fact that people get killed--and yes, they do get killed.
Having reached Sebastopol in Turkey, the army led by the senile Lord Raglan (John Gielgud) is of course ill-prepared. Soldiers marching end up dead from cholera or from the enemy, which is compounded by Raglan's stupidity, as evidenced by the charge itself--done after only Nolan, tired of the inaction and incompetency, tries to get the brigade moving--and he does--but is killed, leaving Lucan, Cardigan, and Raglan only each other to blame.
"Brigade" is worth watching, but the love triangle and Mrs. Duberly bloated the film. However, I did like the animated sequences that explain the historical context (particularly their engraving-type look).
So if the film focused on the faulty preparation for the war and on the failed charge itself (a little more circumstance), and got rid of the love triangle in particular (a little less pomp), I would have liked it more.
The Light Brigade (The 11th Regiment of Hussars) is shabbily run by Lord Cardigan (Trevor Howard), who really is playing the part of a soldier due to his status. He despises any "real" soldier (those who actually have seen combat), especially Captain Lewis Nolan (David Hemmings), a soldier who believes in kindness when handling the army--and his best friend's William's (Mark Burns) wife Clarissa (Vanessa Redgrave).
Cardigan is concerned NOT with an efficient brigade, but a brigade that reflects his elitist attitudes. In the officer's mess scene he ridicules a new recruit for eating lettuce (for being "green," or inexperienced), even though the soldier had the order to do so from Cardigan himself; and that only champagne be drunk at officer's mess and not porter beer--which Cardigan accuses Nolan of drinking (it is actually undecanted Moselle white wine). As one soldier simply puts it, "There is no making without breaking." The poor are often the ones "broken," made to thirst after eating salty mutton, forced to mount horses until they bleed under their uniforms, and having their money stolen. Recruited off of the street, some of them don't even know their right foot from their left.
However, Cardigan has his admirers, especially one Mrs. Duberly, the wife of the Brigade's paymaster (who Cardigan dismisses as not having a rank, but a "trade"). Attracted to image, she sees war more as something done for her amusement, detached from the fact that people get killed--and yes, they do get killed.
Having reached Sebastopol in Turkey, the army led by the senile Lord Raglan (John Gielgud) is of course ill-prepared. Soldiers marching end up dead from cholera or from the enemy, which is compounded by Raglan's stupidity, as evidenced by the charge itself--done after only Nolan, tired of the inaction and incompetency, tries to get the brigade moving--and he does--but is killed, leaving Lucan, Cardigan, and Raglan only each other to blame.
"Brigade" is worth watching, but the love triangle and Mrs. Duberly bloated the film. However, I did like the animated sequences that explain the historical context (particularly their engraving-type look).
So if the film focused on the faulty preparation for the war and on the failed charge itself (a little more circumstance), and got rid of the love triangle in particular (a little less pomp), I would have liked it more.