Sadly Over-hyped

Fresh and Exciting

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The (in)famous Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War. Starting from several months earlier, we see the potential origins of and background to the debacle, as seen through the eyes of one of the chief orchestrators of it, Captain Lewis Nolan.Decent but disappointing. The amount of time devoted to the battle, and even the Crimean War itself, is quite limited, around 30-40% of the movie. Instead what we have is a lot of time spent on background and, although some of it is necessary, it is vastly overdone, taking about the first hour or so. These scenes have some interesting sub-plots and do show well the relationships that would doom the brigade, but have a lot of padding and is often quite dull.Plus we go into Nolan's private life and relationships, an area that was unnecessary, uninteresting, badly done and boring.Then there's the segue-providing animation that probably require you to be high to appreciate (well, the movie was made in 1968) - random and often nonsensical. Sort of reminded me of Terry Gilliam's cartoons in Monty Python episodes, except that there they were funny and made more sense.The dullness and inanity of the first 60-70% or so is made up for by the battle scenes of the remainder. Very accurate depiction of what occurred, especially the command issues and communication breakdown that lead to the disaster.The last bit also reminds you how much potential the movie had. By cutting out the fluff from the first half and adding in a more complete picture of the Battle of Balaclava, especially things like the Charge of the Heavy Brigade and the defensive stand by the 93rd Highland Regiment ("The Thin Red Line"), this could have been a great movie.At least this isn't as bad as the 1936 version of The Charge of the Light Brigade, starring Errol Flynn, though would take a lot to be that bad. The 1936 version totally rewrote the history of the charge, it was that contrived and inaccurate.

The Charge of the light brigade (version '68), is a movie that has a bad reputation because of it's historical truth. One of the greatest, if not the single greatest military blunder in British military history, a fruitless and suicidal "charge" into the South Valley of the Balaclava battlefield with frontal assault of light cavalry on Russian artillery which decimated the Light Brigade during their "charge", is portrayed in all it's "glory". Childish and irresponsible behavior of the upper classes, who were playing war with lives of their man, constant bickering among them, envy and egos galore, set the stage for a typical 19th century conflict. And this truth can't be helped. It could have been made into a silly caricature of history, but it wasn't and many people consider that a failure.The acting is great, and the cast is "cream of the crop" of British actors of those days. Tony Richardson with his "heavy hand" didn't harm the pace or the narrative, and this dissection of British society in 1850's is done well. I haven't seen the 1936 version, but I recommend this one warmly, to anyone who likes history, famous battles, and classic cinema.

This is a superb account of the tragic charge of the Light Brigand during the Battle of Balaclava. It is a fine x-ray of the abusive British military and class system and a thoughtful and colourful exposure of the propaganda of war.I recall as a teenager reading Cecil Woodham Smith's famous book "The Reason Why", which first acquainted me with the event. I have long considered the tragedy as what happens when military intelligence is flawed or lacking.The film has a sixties tone—long on detail, with side stories and colourful little touches like splendid Richard Williams's animations of British publications from the time of the event.I am not certain how well the film narrative corresponds to a recent PBS documentary on the topic. My memory is not that good. It seem that the role of Captain Nolan might have been other than depicted here. He did not have an affair with Captain Morris' wife. However, I think the film is not only accurate for the most part but depicts the moment in history vividly and with great feeling.This is a great movie, a masterwork. Watching it moved me.

Tony Richardson elects to go with Cecil Woodham Smith's historically accurate book instead of Tennyson's glorifying poem in this version of the oft filmed Charge of the Light Brigade. It is a sprawling epic richly constructed, sumptuously photographed (with some splendid animation interludes) and well acted by a prestigious cast but its lumbering pace removes the urgency from the the build-up and the film staggers.Brigade's anti-war theme deals with the unvarnished state of the military and the disparity between officer and enlisted man leading up to the climactic battle. Officers who live comfortably are petty, vain and incompetent while the enlisted live in cramped unhealthy hovels. It is only on the parade ground or assembling on the battle field they mix as a cohesive and splendid looking unit and Richardson remains intent on getting this across. Trevor Howard and Harry Andrews as the bickering and bumbling officers Cardigan and Lucan are magnificently and maddeningly vainglorious while John Gielguld leads with reticent senility forgetting at times what war and enemy he's fighting. David Watkins lush photography along with David Walker's costumes captures both the romance and the squalor of the Victorian period. The folly of the charge itself is dramatized to maximum effect as it cuts back and forth from the command post and the mayhem in the valley with officers blaming each other for the catastrophe. This version of Charge is clearly a metaphor for it's time (1968). Richardson intently lays his message on thick by portraying the entire officer corps as insensitive and imbecilic posers. The film is closer to the truth and sees the charge for the avoidable tragic waste it is but slows down too often to hammer home its point.