The Lives of a Bengal Lancer

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Alan g Fairly accurate depiction of military action in the fading British Raj. Good acting. Soft plot. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 07/27/24 Full Review Mark B I am quite ignorant about the British Raj, so I had no idea if the film was supposed to take place in the (1935) present, or decades earlier, given the lack of motorized vehicles and the military superiority of... cavalry? In the end it didn't matter, as we start to learn more about, and eventually even like, some of these lieutenants. Gary Cooper's accent is (almost) explained away by making him Canadian, but Richard Cromwell makes absolutely no attempt to disguise his completely American accent despite being, supposedly, a recent graduate of RMA Sandhurst. But, who cares. The film is mildly entertaining, has a few humorous moments and few more swashbuckling ones, and even has the unmitigated audacity to kill of its star in the final few minutes. Not bad at all. (#446 in my "watch all Best Picture Nominees" bucket list) Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/22/24 Full Review Leaburn O This film is poor 👎 Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 03/29/23 Full Review Audience Member Cooper as Macgregor, the top billed hero of the piece gives a strong, warm and wry performance. The stand-out surprise of the piece though, is that he is up-staged at nearly every turn by Franchot Tone. The banter between the two is great and takes full advantage of the witty and cynical dialogue. Young Richard Cromwell on the other hand makes very little impression until the final scenes of the picture. The British institution that is C. Aubrey Smith, makes a wonderful patriotic speech from under his formidably bristling eyebrows that brings the house down. The story-line is pretty standard stuff, three heroes in the face of overwhelming odds fight to uphold British dominance on the Indian Frontier. The strength of the film lies in the characterizations of the leads and the incredible settings and action sequences. A good deal of first rate horsemanship is also in evidence as we are treated to a full Lancer charge and scenes of tent pegging and pig sticking. The final battle is a glorious and exciting sequence that modern film makers would learn a great deal from. The script does have its goofy moments in the later torture sequences as we are treated to lines like "We have ways of making men talk" and are shown the old bamboo under the fingernails bit, but even the cliches seem fitting. If grand adventure with an emphasis on style is your idea of a good time, you'd be hard put to find a better example than this film! Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review steve d Cooper is great the rest is just ok. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Favourite movie for almost 60 years Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Lives of a Bengal Lancer

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