The Charge of the Light Brigade

Michael Curtiz directed this fictionalized account of the real-life charge of the light brigade, based on the famous Sir Alfred Lord Tennyson poem. Errol Flynn stars as Major Vickers of the 27th Lancers in India circa 1856. He has been dealing with the local leader Surhat Kahn, who ends up attacking the regiment barracks, massacring the women & children stationed there, which causes Vickers to retaliate in kind, even though he has no such orders. Patrick Knowles plays his brother, a Captain stationed with him, and both men vie for the affections of Elsa Campbell(played by Olivia De Havilland). Rousing and well cast film is entertaining, but viewer should keep in mind how lopsided it is dramatically, and the horrific toll on the lives and safety it took in horses in its production.