A subplot of an affair between Nolan and his best friends wife (Vanessa Redgrave) doesn’t generate much heat, and to not undercut their fools-parade theme, the direction, writing and editing leave out material that wouldn’t serve their point. Ginned up for glory in their training, a brigade of cavalry has spirit to spare, evinced by the likes of fiery Captain Nolan (David Hemmings), but the commander, Lord Cardigan (Trevor Howard), is a pompous bully, and his superiors, Lord’s Raglan (John Gielgud) and Lucan (Harry Andrews) are such bumbling incompetents that, were they not part of the ruling elite, couldn’t put their pants on without a map. They start the ball with a brilliant satiric animated title segment from Richard Williams, then use this device later for montage exposition, moving the narrative and players to the emblematic focus event: the Oct.25,1854 British cavalry attack of the title. Instead of slogging into the whole confusing mess, which would further bum-out a Vietnam War-soured crowd, Richardson and screenwriter Charles Wood chase-cut. The Crimean War was a 29-month disaster of battlefield butchery and rampant disease. Score four for Empires, three for incompetent leaders, two for religious persecution used as motive, zero for common sense (allow one post-game point to Florence Nightingale). In the mid 1850s, international politics and outsized egos did one of their dependable periodic nosedives into needless catastrophe when England and France decided to help Turkey fight Russia. If the cake in war movies is their exciting battle recreations, this one gives you a few slices while rubbing your face in the less-tasty ingredients. As directed by Tony Richardson, this blunder-blistering epic takes a scythe not to noble horses and gallant riders but to martial vainglory, national pomp and class cruelty. Lavishly produced, with some wicked performances, it’s leagues ahead of the classic, fiction-fancying 1936 version in terms of accuracy and attitude, design and detail. Safely removed from the fray, the self-appointed aristocracy of critics fired volleys of praise or blame on those responsible. THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE ran head-on into heavy resistance from ordinary moviegoers in 1968, taking crippling losses at the box-office.
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