Product Description

From director Tony Richardson (Tom Jones) comes this brilliant retelling of tragic events during the Crimean War. Starring Trevor Howard, John Gielgud, David Hemmings and Vanessa Redgrave, this epic political satire is an "impressive achievement" (Boxoffice) that will forever be revered as movie making at its best. British Captain Nolan (Hemmings) is a devoted officer disgusted with his commander, Lord Cardigan (Howard). Lord Raglan (Gielgud) is a foolish officer with misguided war strategies and a fading memory. Together, they are sent to Turkey in response to a Russian invasion. Driven by arrogance and ineptitude, they send hundreds of cavalry to certain death in aclimax that is both "harrowing [and] magnificent" (Time).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12391 in DVD
• Brand: MGM HOME VIDEO (UNDER FOX)
• Released on: 2002-05-07
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 131 minutes

Features

• This satirical account of wartime Victorian England elicits brilliant performances by John Gielgud and Vanessa Redgrave in a tale of the contrasts between aristocracy and the squalor of the loweres. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: PG-13 Age: 027616875761 UPC: 027616875761 Manufacturer No: 1003427

Amazon.com
Tony Richardson's film about the colossal Crimean War blunder combines his sociopolitical anger with the splendors of a David Lean epic for a fascinating artifact of that boiling-point protest year, 1968. Like America's contemporaneous Vietnam War, Britain's mid-19th-century conflict with Russia in defense of Turkey made less sense the deeper they sank into it; John Gielgud's Lord Raglan keeps referring absentmindedly to the enemy as "the French"! Aside from a peripheral romantic triangle involving apparently the single sane officer in Her Majesty's army (David Hemmings), his friend (Mark Burns), and the friend's wife (Vanessa Redgrave--Mrs. Richardson), the film is really about the profoundly jingoistic Victorian imagination; transitional animation sequences by Richard Williams seem to plunge us directly into the British national psyche. Somewhat muddled as drama, but irresistibly persuasive in its historical detail and stunning camerawork (David Watkin, Chariots of Fire), The Charge of the Light Brigade is a prime candidate for rediscovery. --Richard T. Jameson

From the Back Cover
From director Tony Richardson (Tom Jones) comes this brilliant retelling of tragic events during the Crimean War. Starring Trevor Howard, Vanessa Redgrave, John Gielgud, and David Hemmings, this epic political satire is an "impressive achievement" (Boxoffice) that will forever be revered as movie making at its best.

British Captain Nolan (Hemmings) is a devoted officer disgusted with his commander, Lord Cardigan (Howard). Lord Raglan (Gielgud) is a foolish officer with misguided war strategies and a fading memory. Together, they are sent to Turkey in response to a Russian invasion. Driven by arrogance and ineptitude, they send hundreds of cavalry to certain death in a climax that is both "harrowing [and] magnificent" (Time). Fact from the Vault: Although Tennyson wrote of 600 men in his world-famous poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade," there were actually 670: director Tony Richardson used 670 horses and men in the final battle scene.

Customer Reviews

A Masterpiece. Plain and simple
I remember the day I stopped reading the New York Times, and also realized that most film revivers did NOT have a clue... and that�s when I read the review for Tony Richardson�s �Charge Of The Light Brigade�. The Times Reviewer, a first stage imbecile went on and on about "how Richardson could have made such a glorification of war during the height of the View Nam conflict!" Was this man blind, or did he just sit in some bar drinking his lunch while the film was screen? For Light Brigade is perhaps the greatest ANTI-WAR movie ever made! I could go on for pages about this movie. One of the most amazing aspects is Charles Woods�s screenplay. It is without a doubt the greatest piece of film writing ever. Now that�s a big statement� but I promise you� it�s not an exaggeration. From the very first speech of Trevor Howard, through scene after scene of perfect craftsmanship and dialogue, you are bombarded with a sumptuous love affair of the English language. Add to that one of the most opulently shot period movies this side of Barry Lyndon, and the most amazing animation sequences by Richard Williams (and for the love of God� if you still think this is a pro war movie after those sequences, you really need to be locked away for your own safety!)� and you have a cinema treat the likes of which you will find hard pressed to see anywhere else. From the first bars of John Addison�s quirky emotionally charged, purposely overly blown score, to Williams animated lion�s roar� to the last staggering image of the decapitated horses, silently rotting away in the �Valley of Death�, as only the sounds of flies can be heard� you realize you are watching greatest. You also realize you are watching history the way it really was. Never before or since has anyone dramatized �blunders of great men� so magnificently. The parallels to today�s world (and leaders) are terrifyingly accurate and prophetic! This is a movie that doesn�t age gracefully, it ages with an explosive charge� a pressure cooker of artistic brilliance, that once uncapped, erupts in your face, grabs hold and doesn�t let go until the last credit. Tragically, this movie was way ahead of its time, and has never been given its right dues. Long before the computer generated �tension� of Private Ryan� Richardson and crew created a scene of battle terror that digs deep into your soul and is never forgotten. This is a movie you feel, and smell and taste. From the heat of the Turkish plains, to the stench of the English ships, to the flesh ripping sting of a whipping� �Light Brigade� is truly in a class of its own. The balance of terror, humor, intrigue and human courage� and waste� there is no equal. The only one who �blundered� in this movie was the distributor who ignored it, and the vapid reviewers without a brain, who didn�t realize what they were seeing. But you can� rent or buy this masterpiece and see why I for one, fell in love with both the cinema, and the word.

A truly great film on a disappointing DVD
"They will not fight unless they are flogged to it. Would you ask that of them? Would you ask they fight like fiends of Hell for money? Or h'ideas? That would be unchristian."

The Charge of the Light Brigade is one of those films that disappointed me on a first viewing (like many, I was expecting an epic adventure film) but which I love more each time I see it.

Charles Wood's delicious use of language makes the dialog a joy to listen to, and for the most part the performances do it justice - not just the likes of Trevor Howard, Harry Andrews and John Gielgud's delightfully vague Lord Raglan, but also the smaller roles like Norman Rossington's broken Sergeant and Alan Dobie's impoverished officer Mogg, who makes up in jovial and ignorant arrogance what he lacks in wit. It's an astonishingly ambitious film, and for the most part succeeds, painting a portrait not just of a time and place but a whole state of mind - it's not just the bungles of the Crimean War and the casual cruelty of the army in Richardson's sights but the blind stupidity of Britain's entire Victorian class system.

The film is even brave enough to have its nominal hero, David Hemmings' Captain Nolan, be as inadvertently unsympathetic as the superiors he rails against - he might seem more enlightened, but he'll still thoughtlessly finish off his men's breakfast (in one of several scenes cut for this DVD) or push away a wounded soldier. As careless with his men as Raglan is, you can see his point when he dreads the day when professional soldiers like Nolan will run a modern army - "It will be a sad day for England when her armies are led by men who know too well what they are doing- it smacks of murder."

Perhaps it's that lack of someone to root for that helped kill the film at the box-office (along with Richardson's refusal to have press screenings because he felt critics were not intelligent enough to appreciate the film), but I'd still love to see the four-hour rough cut footage emerge from its prison in the BFI's vaults some day. Several stills exist of deleted scenes (such as Cardigan's encounter with Russian troops on his return from the charge: they let him go in respect of his rank in reality) and although his part as a Russian Prince was otherwise completely cut, Laurence Harvey can still be briefly glimpsed in the theatre scene (along with Donald Wolfit playing MacBeth).

What gaps were left by the cuts and budget restrictions (not that the film isn't genuinely spectacular) are admirably filled in by Richard Williams stunningly imaginative and witty animation - old woodcut prints come to life as the British lion puts on his policeman's helmet to stop Russia assaulting Turkey - and John Addison's magnificent score. Amazingly, the pity of it all is not lost under the wit, with the starkest of endings as the generals argue over whose fault it is while flies buzz around dead horses. A truly great film.

Sadly, this is not a great DVD.

The transfer is for the most part fine, but the animation sequences and the all but unreadable credits do suffer. What really disappoints is the fact that, like the previous laserdisc issue, this is a heavily cut version missing some 6-7 minutes. The ommission of Vanessa Redgrave's horrendous singing may be a merciful release, but the ommission of a reel from the Crimea scenes (including the flogging scene of a sentry who inadvertently shot at Raglan and Cardigan subsequently rewarding the flogged man for his bravery) are definitely not. The only extra is a trailer.

Sadly, it appears that despite releasing a video of the longer version (minus a few seconds of vicious horsefalls), the BFI's R2 DVD is the same cut version, albeit with slightly better extras (an interview with Richard Williams and a silent version of the Charge). Very disappointing.

My favourite Military Film
Each time I see this film, I notice something else,whether it be the sailor lifting the Highlander's kilt or the correct uniform of the Royal Horse Artillery gunners at Calamity Bay. The film is a good source of information for the Military History Buff and although Tony Richardson was given the correct details of the uniforms of the Light Brigade(which he obviously chose to ignore)the accounts at The Alma and the indignities suffered by the rank and file are factural. Magnificent Battle scenes make this a far better movie than the poor Errol Flynn film.What would have made this film better would have been including the cut out footage of the Charge of the Heavy Brigade. This footage could have replaced the silly (untrue)seduction scenes of Fanny Duberly and Lord Cardigan. I look forward to seeing a further remake some day, with everything correct, including the thin red line, The Charge of the Heavy Brigade and finally The Charge of the Light Brigade, maybe titled BALAKLAVA. Much the same way as Zulu and Zulu Dawn. Let's hope its not too long.