The Charge of the Light Brigade (Warner Bros.) (1936)

" THE ‘Charge Of Light Brigade’ Film Treated In New Way Dramatic Story Was Written With Battle Of Balaclava As Climax Since the first film company took a camera out on a vacant lot and made a picture, studios have been building stories around famous poems. ma — more often it wasn’t. Sometimes the result was good cine‘“Hvangeline,’’ ‘‘Paul Revere’s Ride,’’ ‘‘Enoch Arden’’ and ‘‘Barbara Fritchie’’ did not prove exceptional films. But Lord Tennyson’s poem about ‘‘The Charge of the Light Brigade,’’ now a Warner Bros. picture, starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland and COMIN eo: LObheriie etek. Sil es TheaBUGS Oliisce exces touts fccck ales: » was treated so differently that it is an unqualified hit. A year and a half ago, Jacoby went to the studio with his plan to make ‘‘The Charge of the Light Brigade,’’ to use the Charge as the climax for a story about two brothers, a girl, a troop of lancers and a rascally border chieftain. Warner Bros. bought his idea and put Jacoby and Rowland Leigh to work on it. After eight months they turned in the completed script. The picture required a tremendous amount of research before a camera could be turned. Captain E. Rochfort Johns, former British officer, and now a member of the Warner Bros. research department, spent six months ferreting out data about houses, guns, uniforms, costumes, turbans, sabres, lances, battle flags, the Crimea and the like. British War Department maps of the battlefield at Balaclava were needed. So were pictures of British garrisons that stood on the Indian borders in 1850. The Hero Found The script and the research material were turned over to Director Michael Curtis. It took him a month to get his cast together. He didn’t have to look far for a hero because he had just completed a picture called ‘‘Captain Blood,’’ which sent a young unknown HARGE of the. Pear 6G named Errol Flynn skyrocketing to stardom. But it wasn’t so easy to find men who spoke with a British accent, who could ride and who looked well in uniform. While Curtiz was picking his cast, two ace property men, ‘‘Scotty’? Moore and ‘‘Limey’’ Plews, were getting thousands of props together. Lances, pistols, cannons, flags, sabres, drums, bugles, saddles, saddle blankets and similar equipment of the period were bought or made in the prop shop. An entire building was needed to store the properties. Costuming the troupe was another big job. L. L. Burns, head of the wardrobe department, and Henry West put a score of tailors to work making uniforms. Each officer needed a dozen uniforms— each lancer six—each sepoy two. Costumes for British ladies, Hindu and Arab women, Hindu and Arab men and border chieftains were turned out by the hundred. And while this was going on, Joe Barry, head of the location department, was foraging for territory that looked like India, Arabia and the Crimea. At Lone Pine he found Arabia. At Lasky Mesa he found India and near Chatsworth he found a suitable ‘‘valley of death. ’’ Leopard Hunt Art Director John Hughes had a lot to do before production could be started. To him fell the task of making miniatures of all the IGHT BRIGADE tC ¢ kr ¥ sets, getting them approved by Curtiz and then having them built. One set alone, the British garrison which stands on Lasky Mesa, took four weeks to build. It is the biggest set erected in Hollywood since 1928 and covers four city blocks. At Lone Pine an Arab encampment was set up. On three sound stages, a Hindu palace, a _ ball room and the interior of barracks and commandant’s headquarters were built. On the back lot a crew of men put up a portion of the city of Caleutta. At Sherwood Lake a jungle was made for a leopard hunt. The studio animal man, Lee Sheldon, secured leopards, elephants, Afghan dogs, falcons, camels, Brahman bulls, eight hundred spirited horses and numerous mongrel dogs. In just one scene three or four hundred pounds of dynamite were exploded as the cavalry charged the guns. The Arabian scenes, where Flynn and his lancers, buy two or three thousand head of horses and fight off Arabs, were filmed prior to this. So were the palace scene and some of the garrison shots. Mr. Curtiz kept the Charge itself for the last. He wanted to think about it a little while longer before he turned his cameras on the noble six hundred riding ‘‘ half a league, half a league, half a league onward’’ into the ‘‘ valley of death.’’ “Light Brigade” Company Breaks Screen Records All Hollywood speed and efficiency records were broken by the Warner Bros. company filming ‘“The Charge of the Light Brigade,’’ now showing at the ........ aeeeeauar ee Theatre. Leaving Los Angeles one Sunday night in a ten-car train, the company of 150 players and 11 technicians reached the location at Lone Pine 250 miles away, breakfasted, and set up its equipment and made the first shot at 9 A.M. Monday morning. Credit for the remarkable feat was given by Director Michael Curtiz to the Location and Unit Managers. The train earrying the company, four carloads of properties, a earload of livestock including six camels and fifty horses, and a earload of costumes, was scheduled to reach Lone Pine at 3 A.M., Monday but did not get there until six A.M. The location chosen by Director Curtiz was seven miles from the station and he wanted to make his first shot by nine. He made it. The train was unloaded, the camera and sound equipment was set up, the players were costumed and made up and given their breakfast. At the appointed hour Cameraman Sol Polito started the cameras turning. Into The Jaws Of Death Rode The Six Hundred Lhe most thrilling cavalry charge ever filmed brings to life the inspirations of Tennyson’s immortal poem, ‘‘ The Charge of the Light Brigade,’’ and forms the climax of the Warner Bros. picture of the same name which comes tO thé «0.0.0... ERCQU C301 05... a Se , with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, who rose to stardom in ‘‘Captain Blood,’’ in the leading roles. In addition to the 600 horsemen who participate in the ‘‘charge,’’ nearly 15,000 extra players were used in making the picture, which was directed by Michael Curtiz. Mat No. 501—50e Page Forty-seven