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Thursday, March 22, 2018

THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (1968)

From the mid-‘60s thru the ‘70s, controversy over Vietnam made the military something of a ‘third rail’ in film, turning nearly all war pics into current events allegory (intended or not); and all on-screen military officers into officious dolts. An attitude that kills this historical; not because wartime arrogance & incompetence didn’t lead to the eponymous death ‘charge’ at Sevastopol in The Crimean War, but because it did. Senile generals, disastrous infighting from the officers in charge, a Wrong-Way Harrigan Captain (his motives still a subject of debate); so what should register as the military campaign fuck-up of all time comes across simply as business as usual. Add in late ‘60s stylistics from director Tony Richardson and you’ve wasted a stellar cast (John Gielgud, Trevor Howard, Vanessa Redgrave, David Hemmings) & some impressive resources. Cinematographer David Watkin makes it all look gorgeous, even the carnage & horror, but can’t overcome Richardson’s habitual bad camera set ups or take the snark out of Charles Wood’s satiric screenplay. In fact, the only thing that really does work in here are a few brilliant animated sequences from Richard Williams which straighten out global machinations and function like period political cartoons. But hardly enough to save the pic.

LINK: Lousy posters for this film. Instead, a dandy one from Edison/1912. A one-reel release, now in very poor physical condition, it still puts on quite the show of horseflesh & soldiering once it hits the battlefield. Plus InterTitles by Tennyson! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfKo0dVnuDw 
And here’s a succinct animated history of the battle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b73IaK2zQk8

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