Hollywood (1936)

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Hollywood Productions The Charge of the Light Brigade Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward! All in the Valley of Death, Rode the sue hundred! "Forward the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!" he said. Into the Valley of Death, Rode the six hundred! Tennyson IT Was One Of those clear, warm California mornings and a morning we would never forget for today, just as they rode into the Valley of Death, almost a century ago, The Light Brigade would ride again! As Alice stepped through the looking-glass into Wonderland, so would we leave reality and time behind us and step back into the romantic period when this immortal charge was made. But today, the Light Brigade did not ride for the glory of England. They rode for a final, dramatic finale sequence in a Warner Brothers motion picture, The Charge of the Light Brigade! It would only be make-believe but as we surveyed the scene spread out before us, the blood ran hot in our veins. The company was on location near Chatsworth, a few miles north of Hollywood. Around us was scattered the usual equipment of a large unit on location. The site had been chosen because its terrain closely resembled that over which the gallant six hundred had ridden, on that fateful day when the battle of Balaclava seemed lost to England, in the Crimean War in 1850. There was a narrow, rockinfested valley between steeply sloping, rock-topped hills. At the lower ends were the Russian guns, behind their wicker-basket bastions. Half a league away, at the upper end, were the massed squadrons of the Light Brigade. They were preparing to ride thundering down on the Czar's guns and men, in the face of almost certain death. It was a brave sight, a bold sight and one to make the heart beat faster, the nerves grow taut. This charge would be the grand finale of the entire film. The other scenes, the jungle leopard hunt, the journey of the Arab horse herd, the ballroom scene, the Beautiful scenery is plentiful in the production. This shot, supposedly in Asia, was taken at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountains, near lofty Mount Whitney, highest point in th U. S. SEPTEMBER, 1936 There is nothing subtle about The Charge of the Light Brigade. It is raw war, with touches of tender romance. Above is a typical spill, engineered with a trick horse. Left: Errol Flynn in uniform massacre of the British garrison at Chukoti were already "in the can." Behind all this was more than a year of research and preparation. A beautiful, dramatic and poignant love story had been woven into the tapestry of Tennyson's immortal poem. A cast of thirty-seven principals had been chosen and thousands of extra men, women and children assembled. More than a million dollars would be spent, before the picture was at last finished. The imposing cast was headed by the heroine and hero of Captain Blood, beautiful, exquisite Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn, bold, dashing, handsome. The third member of the romantic triangle which forms the plot was one Patric Knowles, imported from England especially for the role of Flynn's brother. As Major Geoffrey Vickers, Elsa Campbell and Captain Perry Vickers, these three made an outstanding team. Preparations for War • For More Than two weeks, studio technicians had been preparing the motion picture battlefield. The floor of the valley was mined with dynamite charges which expert explosive men would explode among the charging ranks, to simulate the bursting of Russian shells. To the right, just at the foot of the slope, a deep trench had been dug. Partly down in this and along a wooden track, a "dolly" would run, keeping pace with the horses, while six cameras, placed one above the other, would film the charge from four [Continued on page 46] 27