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Set in the spectacle of mystic India with its glittering mosques, oirental palaces, weird music, bronzed nautch dancers
In the Northwest Frontier of India, the 41st Bengal Lancers leaded by the harsh Colonel Tom Stone are having trouble with the rebellious leader Mohammed Khan. After two casualties, the experienced but insubordinate Lieutenant Alan McGregor receives as replacement, the arrogant Lieutenant Forsythe and the immature son of Colonel Stone, Lieutenant Donald Stone. With the intention to prove that he will not have any privilege in the troop, the reception of Colonel Stone to his son is absolutely cold, but he becomes the protégé of McGregor. When Lieutenant Stone is kidnapped by Mohammed Khan, McGregor and Forsythe disobey the direct order of their commander, disguise as Indian peddlers and go to Khan's fortress to attempt to rescue their friend.
리브 오브 어 벵골 랜서, Les Trois Lanciers du Bengale, Tres lanceros bengalíes, I lancieri del Bengala, Bengali, Жизнь Бенгальского улана, 傲世军魂, 어느 벵갈 기병의 삶, Lanceiros da Índia, A hindu lándzsás
If you've watched this film, congratulations. You've now seen one of Hitler's favorite movies (allegedly).
Apparently, the ideas expressed in The Lives of a Bengal Lancer expressly appealed to the Third Reich, particularly the concept of a few refined, militaristic European blue bloods subjugating a continent of foreign barbarians based on pure superiority alone (though funnily enough, Mussolini had it banned as propaganda). The film helped to popularize the romantic image of British expeditionary forces in far-flung locations across the world, particularly in the eyes of young boys who only had the novels of Allan Quatermain to imagine with beforehand. However, it was done in such an immodest and excessive way that it could only have been made in Hollywood,…
Thankfully Franchot Tone was in this as comic relief because otherwise this was a real snoozer that has not aged well at all. Gary Cooper was terribly miscast and his moustache looks silly.
Finishing all the Academy Award Nominations for Best Picture - 69 to Go!
"Now that we are no longer guests tell him what you really think of the mutton."
First off, some fun facts: There was an attempt to make this back in 1931, and the studio sent a crew to India to scout locations and film a few things. But the film ended up being destroyed by the elements due to improper storage. So, filming in India was scrapped, and production was moved to the exotic locations of Los Angeles. Mussolini had this banned because he felt it was propaganda favoring the British Empire's might. But at the same time, it turns out to be one of Hitler's favorite movies. Because it depicted a small force successfully occupying a large foreign land,…
A weird film on the general filmography of Gary Cooper. He is not as likeable as he is on other films, and there are a lot of dialogues that feel off, as if some things were meant to be said but couldn't due to censorship, which is to said there is a lot of subtext all around.
What this film does really well are the action sequences. Things go on and off in a snap and it feels fast and spectacular.
Henry Hathaway’s adventure. Gary Cooper, Franchot Tone and Richard Cromwell play three British soldiers on the Northwest Frontier of India finding it hard against invaders… and themselves.
As the British Empire makes a larger presence in northwest India, Lieutenant McGregor (Gary Cooper) oversees two fresh recruits with the 41st regiment of the celebrated Bengal Lancers.
Lieutenant Forsythe (Franchot Tone) is keen for action against Islamic attackers, while Lieutenant Stone (Richard Cromwell) is forced to pass congress with his father (Sir Guy Standing), the outpost commander.
Fatal dangers increase after the men join an assignment to defeat a nasty chieftain, Mohammed Khan (Douglas Dumbrille), in this adaptation of the novel of the same name by Francis Yeats-Brown, which was published five…
I am only assuming this film was nominated because it depicted another part of the world on film in 1935, ironically enough that exact same reason is why this film has aged like milk.
Apparently, one of Hitler's favourite films. Not an ideal recommendation, let's be honest. I suppose you can see the appeal to Hitler; as Henry Hathaway's film goes out of its way to celebrate the subjugation of a continent by colonial forces. Represented here mainly by Gary Cooper who alternates between brownface and shirtlessness. A man's man, with his hairy chest and killer good looks, willing to go undercover in any way possible. The film is supremely camp. It isn't so much subtext, as just a quite gay text. Ernst Röhm would have been gutted to miss it, but the night of the long knives was 1934 and this didn't appear until 1935. So, well, he was dead.
The boys in the desert. It was so sweet watching Gary Cooper showing his feelings for the young and sensitive Richard Cromwell who had father issues. And the difficult father/son relationship Cromwell had with Guy Standing made this a bit more complex then usual. And that aspect is probable the films main quality with C. Aubrey Smith giving a very important speech about army and fatherhood.
Franchot Tone was there mainly as comic relief, but with a serious tone as it was war. He had the lines and showed his skills as an actor with the part he got. He was the guy who wanted no part of the emotional dealings of the others, yet he had the most reflected…
What the hell is a bengal lancer?? Oh. I guess it’s just regiments of the British Indian Army. Probably because they’re in the Bengal area. Director Henry Hathaway is criminally underrated, and he produces some great action scenes. That’s what I like about these desert films. They’re like a mix of western and war pictures. Speaking of action, why were action films so much better in the thirties than the forties? Did WWII have something to do with it? What’s weird is Gary Cooper and Franchot Tone’s characters are immature assholes. Tone is especially annoying. Their co-star Richard Cromwell is blatantly gay. He’s too pretty to be otherwise. Apparently he was married to Angela Lansbury for nine months! She was…
This film is about British servicemen in India who are being attacked by local rebels during the British Raj.
The film does a good job humanizing and making us care about the three main characters. Gary Cooper as McGregor (experienced soldier who takes the other two newbies under his wing), Franchot Tone as Forsythe (a wisecracking newcomer who loves to tease McGregor about being Scottish) and Richard Cromwell as young Stone. Stone in particular has an interesting relationship with his father, a colonel, that is center at some of the storytelling. The father and son do not know each other well as the Colonel is married to the service and has not been home in seemingly decades, but his son…
Gary Cooper stars in director Henry Hathaway's adaptation of the 1930 autobiography of British cavalry officer Francis Yeats-Brown. Cooper plays Lt. Alan 'Mac' McGregor, a quick-tempered member of the 41st Bengal Lancers based on the Northwest Frontier of British India under the command of Colonel Tom 'Ramrod' Stone (Guy Standing). Although a capable soldier, Mac is often at odds with the Colonel and blames him for poor decisions that cost the lives of his men.
Two replacements arrive to serve under McGregor. One is a competent cavalry officer, Lieutenant John Forsyth (Franchot Tone), who enjoys teasing Mac about his Scottish-Canadian lineage; the other is the Colonel's own son, Lieutenant Donald Stone (Richard…
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