The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) review - absolute chaos and beautiful horses

If you want to watch Errol Flynn look incredibly handsome while riding a horse into certain death, yes, turn this on right now. But if you care about actual history—or if you can't stand seeing horses take real, nasty falls—you should probably skip it. 🐴

It is a weirdly structured movie that spends way too much time on a boring love triangle before getting to the actual war stuff.

Basically, Errol Flynn and Patric Knowles play brothers who are both in love with Olivia de Havilland. Olivia looks beautiful but has almost nothing to do except look worried in nice dresses.

The first hour feels less like a war movie and more like a polite tea party that occasionally gets interrupted by some guys shooting rifles in the desert.

It actually reminded me of the simple, dusty setups in old silent westerns like Jim the Conqueror, where the plot is just an excuse to get guys on horses.

But then, the massacre at Chukoti happens.

This is where the movie gets dark. They build up this villain, Surat Khan, who is just incredibly evil for no real reason other than the plot needs him to be.

He kills everyone, including women and children, which leads to Flynn’s character, Major Vickers, getting completely obsessed with revenge.

He literally fakes a written order just so he can lead his men into a suicidal charge against the Russian artillery.

It’s totally insane when you think about it. He decides his men's lives are worth sacrificing just to get back at one guy.

And yet, the movie plays it as this incredibly noble, heroic moment.

The actual charge sequence at the end is unbelievable to watch.

It is chaotic, loud, and feels genuinely dangerous. Probably because it was dangerous.

They used tripwires to trip the horses, and a lot of them actually died making this. It makes the action feel incredibly real, but it also leaves a bad taste in your mouth if you think about it too much.

There is this one shot of a horse doing a complete flip in the air that made me gasp.

Errol Flynn is just peak Flynn here. He has this intense, sweaty look during the final charge that shows he's not just playing a hero; he's playing a madman.

Meanwhile, Nigel Bruce shows up as a bumbling officer, and he’s always a delight even if he’s basically doing his Sherlock Holmes routine.

The music by Max Steiner is constantly blasting in the background, trying to make every single horse ride feel like the most important event in human history.

It doesn't always work, but when that trumpet sounds for the final charge, you can't help but feel a little bit hyped.

It's a flawed, messy film, but that final twenty minutes is some of the most intense action Hollywood ever put on black-and-white film.

Stuff I wrote down while watching:

• The love triangle is so boring I actually checked my phone twice.
• Surat Khan has the most obvious 'evil guy' mustache in cinema history.
• The way they try to make a suicide mission look like a happy ending is wild.
• Seriously, those horse falls are brutal. Glad they changed the laws after this one.