IMDb RATING
7.0/10
5.2K
YOUR RATING
A major countermands orders and attacks to avenge a previous massacre of men, women, and children.A major countermands orders and attacks to avenge a previous massacre of men, women, and children.A major countermands orders and attacks to avenge a previous massacre of men, women, and children.
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
5.2K
YOUR RATING
- Alfred Lord Tennyson(poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade")
- Michael Jacoby(original story)
- Rowland Leigh(screen play)
- Stars
- Alfred Lord Tennyson(poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade")
- Michael Jacoby(original story)
- Rowland Leigh(screen play)
- Stars
Olivia de Havilland
- Elsa Campbell
- (as Olivia De Havilland)
G.P. Huntley
- Maj. Jowett
- (as G.P. Huntley Jr.)
J. Carrol Naish
- Subadar-Major Puran Singh
- (as J. Carroll Naish)
Princess Baba
- Prema's Mother
- (as Princess Baigum)
- Alfred Lord Tennyson(poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade")
- Michael Jacoby(original story) (screen play)
- Rowland Leigh(screen play)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFor the filming of the climactic charge, 125 horses were trip-wired. Of those, 25 were killed outright or had to be put down afterward. The resulting public furor caused the US Congress to pass laws to protect animals used in motion pictures. Star Errol Flynn, a horseman, was so outraged by the number of horses injured and killed during the charge, and by director Michael Curtiz's seeming indifference to the carnage, that at one point as he was arguing with Curtiz about it, he could contain himself no more and actually physically attacked him. They were pulled apart before any serious damage was done, but it put a permanent freeze on their relationship; even though they made subsequent films together, they despised each other and would speak only when necessary on the set.
- GoofsAfter the massacre, Flynn sympathetically listens to Major Singh crying over the body of his murdered son Prema who is clearly wiggling his toes in the foreground of the scene.
- Quotes
[first lines]
Sir Humphrey Harcourt: How do you fellows manage to look so comfortably, Vickers?
Maj. Geoffrey Vickers: We may look it Sir, but we're not. They say the first 40 years are about the hottest up here on the frontier, after that you get used to it.
Sir Humphrey Harcourt: Really?
- Crazy creditsOpening credits: This production has its basis in history. The historical basis, however, has been fictionized for the purposes of this picture and the names of many characters, many characters themselves, the story, incidents and institutions, are fictitious. With the exception of known historical characters, whose actual names are herein used, no identification with actual persons, living or dead, is intended or should be inferred.
- Alternate versionsAlso available in a computer colorized version.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Hollywood and the Stars: The Swashbucklers (1964)
- SoundtracksGod Save the Tsar
(1833) (uncredited)
(Russian national anthem, 1833-1917)
Music by Alexis Lvov
In the score during the charge at Balaklava
Review
Featured review
Cannons All Around...
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.
helpful•60
- AaronCapenBanner
- Nov 4, 2013
Details
Box office
- 1 hour 55 minutes
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content

Top Gap
By what name was The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) officially released in India in English?
Answer