The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968 film)

Infobox Film
name = The Charge of the Light Brigade


caption = DVD cover
director = Tony Richardson
producer = Neil Hartley
writer = Charles Wood
John Osborne
starring = Trevor Howard
John Gielgud
Vanessa Redgrave
Harry Andrews
Jill Bennett
David Hemmings
Alan Dobie
Norman Rossington
music = John Addison
cinematography = David Watkin
editing = Kevin Brownlow
Hugh Raggett
distributor = United Artists
released = flagicon|UK 11 April 1968
flagicon|USA 6 October 1968
runtime = 139 min
country = UK
awards =
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0062790

"The Charge of the Light Brigade"is a British war film made in 1968 by Woodfall Film Productions and distributed by United Artists (which held the rights to the 1936 film version at the time). It was directed by Tony Richardson and produced by Neil Hartley.

The screenplay was written by Charles Wood from a first draft (uncredited) by John Osborne. It aimed to be brutally authentic, based in part on the research in Cecil Woodham-Smith's "The Reason Why" (1953). The film included animations by Richard Williams, based on the contemporary graphic style of "Punch Magazine", in order to explain the political events surrounding the battle. The music score was by John Addison and the cinematography by David Watkin.

The film starred Trevor Howard as Lord Cardigan, John Gielgud as Lord Raglan, and Vanessa Redgrave, Harry Andrews, Jill Bennett, David Hemmings, Ben Aris, Peter Bowles, Helen Cherry, Howard Marion-Crawford, T.P. McKenna and Donald Wolfit. It was also the movie debut of Natasha Richardson, who was aged four at the time of filming. The film is about the famous foolishness of a military engagement during the Crimean War by the 'Light Brigade': a division of the British Army's cavalry which consisted of the 4th and 13th Light Dragoons, the 17th Lancers, and the 8th and 11th Hussars, and was commanded at the time by Major General the Earl of Cardigan.

The Brigade's aristocratic officers are depicted as incompetents who were more concerned with appearances than with substance, and who disdained doing the real work of training and leading their men. Critical to the historical events were the fact that the commanders on the hill above could see gun positions that the cavalry lower down could not, due to the hilly terrain as shown in the film's climax by a shift in lens optics by cinematographer David Watkin.

"The Charge of the Light Brigade" was nominated for six BAFTA Film Awards, but failed to win in any category.

The barracks scenes in the first half of the film were filmed at Aldershot in Hampshire, while the 'Crimea' scenes, including the Charge itself, were filmed in Turkey.

Cast

External links

*
* Julia Trevelyan Oman Archive [http://www.bris.ac.uk/theatrecollection/ University of Bristol Theatre Collection] , University of Bristol