The Lives of a Bengal Lancer

exotic, romantic, useful for discover the old virtues and conventional India, mixture of drama, humor and noble intentions/ gestures, with a legendary cast, it is a great show. maybe , a perfect one. the old scent is its great virtue. than - the story, impeccable in each detail. and the inspired image about duty and honor. it is an useful film. not only for acting or for the heroic scenes but for the grace to do a good job who has the opportunity to seems be remarkable. because each detail, the dialog, the same ingredients for Middle East policy are impressive. a film with taste of event for many viewers. for the status of piece from a precious lost world.

It's hard to remember sometimes when you get caught up in watching a film like Lives of a Benger Lancer that in fact the British were the occupiers and the bandits were in fact fighting against who they considered invaders.

The British didn't take over India in a classical war of armed conquest. During the 17th and 18th centuries they were among a whole series of European powers who were looking for trading rights and who gradually made deals with several of the local rulers like the ones you see portrayed in this film. A guy named Robert Clive finally defeated the French and the British were the only ones left on the subcontinent except for two Portugese enclaves on the Indian west coast.

Great Britain ruled very little of India directly. They only could run it with a LOT of collaboration which they had. They were seen as occupiers however, even by those who collaborated.

Having said that the British Army over its period in India established a great military tradition. In fact their army in India was viewed as almost a wholly separate entity.

The Lives of the Bengal Lancers is part of that tradition. True to Hollywood in order to have Americans star in a British location we make them Canadians. Well, Gary Cooper was from Montana and that's close enough to Canada. Franchot Tone with his clipped and professionally stage trained speech patterns I guess Paramount figured could pass for British. And Richard Cromwell was given an American mother.

Cooper is a frontier officer who is sent to meet two new arrivals, Tone from another regiment and Cromwell straight from Sandhurst. Cromwell is the son of the post commander a real spit and polish type played by Sir Guy Standing. Their clash is what sets off the events of this film.

Douglass Dumbrille plays a very smooth and deadly villain as bandit leader Mohammed Khan. And C. Aubrey Smith is fine as the fort's second in command.

The later and more comic Gunga Din had a lot of the same plot in it. The final battle between the British lancers and Dumbrille's forces is pretty exciting though the heroics of our three officers today's audience might find a bit much.

Still The Lives of a Bengal Lancer is a good action adventure saga and a fine tribute to the men who served in the lancers.

I picked this little beauty up simply because of Gary Cooper and the subject matter. Having loved Gunga Din, this seemed like a good choice. 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!

Pretty good film. Surprisingly complex characters and plot elements for such an old film. Good action sequences and direction. The only criticism I can think of that I had on viewing this movie isn't even really fair, that the cobra didn't look real. I guess their computer graphics lab wasn't quite up to snuff! If you like old films, this one is worth a look.

British India - the Northwest Frontier. Three comrades-in-arms, officers of the elite Lancers Corps, are part of the great Army machine that protects the Raj from warring princes & rebellious tribes. Of immediate concern is the black-hearted ruler conspiring to obtain two million rounds of ammunition. If he succeeds, war is inevitable. Meanwhile, the stern old Lancers colonel has difficulties in dealing with his energetic young officers, one of whom is his own alienated son. During the trials that lie ahead they will exhibit courage, camaraderie & competition, all qualities that make up THE LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER.

Not just a great adventure epic, this film deals with the tough questions raised by bonds fraternal & familial. What does it mean to be loyal to one's friends? What affection should a father exhibit for his son? What does one do when duty & friendship collide? Beyond all that, the movie is simply fun...

Gary Cooper, here playing a Canadian-Scots, is excellent as the veteran lieutenant, but Franchot Tone matches him in every way as the feisty new subaltern. Together they make a great pair of movie companions - their 'snake charming' scene is priceless. Richard Cromwell, as the military school graduate, is also very good. The fine supporting cast includes Douglass Dumbrille, Akim Tamiroff, Lumsden Hare, Nobel Johnson, J. Carroll Naish, Monte Blue, Mischa Auer & especially wonderful old Sir C. Aubrey Smith, as the major of the regiment.

Comment should be made of Sir Guy Standing, tremendous here as the Regimental Colonel. Sir Guy was a distinguished stage actor from London, who, like many other British theatrical performers, came to Hollywood to make a living in the movie business. At Paramount Studios he quickly established himself as a very fine character actor and from 1933 to 1937 he appeared in 18 films. Tragically, all came to an end in 1937, when he died in the Hollywood Hills, the victim of a rattlesnake bite.