The Lives of a Bengal Lancer

Directed by Henry Hathaway, The Lives of a Bengal Lancer from 1935 is an excellent film that today is not as well-known as films like Beau Geste and Gunga Din.

The film stars Gary Cooper, Franchot Tone, Richard Cromwell, Guy Standing, C. Aubrey Smith, and Douglas Dumbrille.

The story takes place in India, in the northwest frontier. The 41st Bengal Lancers have had casualties due to a rebel leader, Mohammed Khan. Replacements for the lost men appear: Lt. Forsythe (Tone) and Donald Stone (Richard Cromwell), the son of the head of the Lancers, Colonel Stone. Lt. Alan McGregor (Cooper) rooms with them, due to the fact that he's usually in trouble. Forsythe loves singing "Mother Macree" and pushing McGregor's buttons; but McGregor bonds with the young Stone. Eventually all three become friends.

When Stone's son is kidnapped by Mohammed Khan, McGregor and Forsythe want to go after him, but Stone forbids it. The two men dress as Indians and go to Khan's base to rescue Stone.

Rousing film with plenty of action, which was one of Hathaway's specialties, with all locations in California but under the hot sun, it could be India. This is the movie where the famous line "We have ways of making you talk" comes from, except that's not the line, it's "We have ways of making men talk" - somehow these famous lines are never exact.

Gary Cooper is excellent -- gorgeous as usual, energetic, and passionate. I just saw him in "Ten North Fredrick" so it was a delight to see him in this, 23 years earlier, so young and strong. Tone, who replaced Henry Wilcoxin is very good, and baby-faced Richard Cromwell is right for his role as a kid who wants to be treated like one of the Lancers and not have any special privileges. Cromwell was married to Angela Lansbury for five minutes or so, and was in and out of films, working ultimately as an artist.

Lots of action and adventure - hard to know why it isn't appreciated today because the characters are strong, with real relationships and good dialogue. I think I know why - Gunga Din is a George Stevens' film, and Beau Geste was directed by William Wellman. Since Hathaway isn't considered a director in that league, I have a feeling this film is often passed over. It's a shame; it deserves rediscovery.

You are unlikely to have heard of "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer." It has long been overshadowed by it's more popular contemporaries "Beau Geste" and "Gunga Din", though it is, in my humble opinion, a finer film then either of them. But I'm getting ahead of myself, let's start at the beginning.

"The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" is the story of a regiment of British soldiers in Imperial India. It's an adventure film first and foremost, but it is also an intimate drama about the life of a soldier in an age of Victorian honor, chivalry, and stiff upper lip stoicism. The characters are all interesting and complex and the dialogue is witty and literate.

The film holds up very well for a movie made in 1935, largely due to the lack of any melodramatic romantic subplots, which have permanently marred other adventure films of the period. This is a man's film about men in desperate situations, it's about being willing to die for your country or your friends at a moments notice. It's about a concept that most people consider outdated, honor. How many films have you seen recently about honor, loyalty, and true courage? Probably not many. The action scenes are exhilarating, and the film really does a wonderful job of establishing it's Indian setting.

The performances are all first rate, Gary Cooper stars as Lt. McGregor. I've always imagined Cooper as the quiet, serious, everyman characters he played later in his career. Here he gets to try his hand at comedy and complexity and gives arguably the most layered performance of his career. Franchot Tone is also perfectly cast, he won on Oscar the same year for his performance in Mutiny on the Bounty, but his performance in this film is equally deserving of acclaim. Tone was one of the best actors of the 1930's, though he never really hit it big as a leading man. He's wonderful here, his character exudes charm and wit, and he and Cooper bounce off each other wonderfully. Richard Cromwell is a little over the top, but he makes sense for the character. British stage actor Guy Standing plays Colonel Stone as being emotionless on the outside, and yet torn apart on the inside, having to make the impossible choice between loyalty to one's family and loyalty to one's country. It's a great performance for which he should have received an Oscar nomination. As for C. Aubrey Smith, he is wonderful as usual, the quintessential British officer, often imitated but never equaled, there is no one like the man himself. Douglas Dumbrille also gives a fine performance as the evil Muhammad Khan.

"The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" is a great film, that has been unfairly denied the classic status it so deserves. For years the only way to see it was on Turner Classic Movies, but recently it was released as one of the five films on the $25 "Gary Cooper Collection". Don't miss it.

10 out of 10

Also, though most people don't know it, this is the film in which the now famous line "We have ways of making men talk" is first uttered.

THE LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER can take its place among the best of the Hollywood version of Colonial India during the 1800s where the danger and excitement is derived from tales similar to the more famous GUNGA DIN, where the British Army has its share of conflict with the Indians who think their country is being occupied.

And like GUNGA DIN, it revolves around a threesome of male buddies played by GARY COOPER, FRANCHOT TONE and RICHARD CROMWELL. Cooper is the strongest of the leads, a Lt. McGregor who has been sent to welcome two new soldiers to the military post. One of them (Cromwell) is the naively inexperienced son of the post's commander and prone to go astray without guidance from Cooper and Tone. The relationships are not without friction (usually with humorous episodes thrown in), and, of course, there's the requisite loyalty, courage and danger involved in all of their undertakings.

Much of it feels similar to other stories of courage beyond endurance and scenes of torture where the captive soldiers exhibit the bravery instilled in them by the military. GARY COOPER is at his most Gary Cooper-like persona (stoic and brave) in the role of the heroic McGregor and FRANCHOT TONE does extremely well as his humorous buddy. RICHARD CROMWELL tends to overact in melodramatic '30s style, the only weakness in the cast.

Good support from a cast including DOUGLAS DUMBRILLE, J. CARROL NAISH, NOBLE JOHNSON and AKIM TAMIROFF.

Fans of GUNGA DIN should love this one.

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!