Russia has invaded Turkey, much to the chagrin of the British, who sees this as a threat to their dominance of the globe through their Empire. As the politicians debate a course of action, the military prepare for war, recruiting men from the working classes and officers from the ruling classes. One such officer is Captain Louis Nolan, who comes under the charge of Lord Cardigan one of the old guard and a cantankerous, arrogant leader to boot. This form of leadership feeds through his officers and brings conflict with the straight approach of Nolan. This conflict reaches The Times and enrages Nolan, who continues his arrogance even as the Light Brigade join the forces heading through Turkey.
With stories of all manner of goings-on during the three year production of this film it is little wonder that in some regards this film is all over the place. I am unsure of the historical value of the writing but it doesn't manage to do much in regards characters or consistent tone (either in the film or the individuals). Nolan is a fine example of this as he never manages to be an engaging character and, along with the rest of them, just comes off as larger than life characters seemingly without any significant basing in reality. This makes it hard to get into as it seem to jump around in narrative without any real drive. This is all the more frustrating because on the edges it does do some things pretty well. From the very start there is a clear judgment on the English mentality the world policeman, the mighty lion, the posh officer mindset of war as a sort of game and so on. This is backed up pretty much by the rest of the film, which spends more time on this than on the characters, and it is interesting although maybe not enough to base a whole film on the animations alone are sharp enough to suffice if contrasted well with a reality.
The film may also be of interest recently because the most obvious parallel is now with the US's position in the world not quite an Empire but certainly with all the influence and invincibility that GB once believed it had. It is also relevant because it highlights the horrors of war and, even without characters we care about, the final charge is a mess of death that lacks any of the honour or beauty that the hillside generals talk of minutes before. Sadly all this is wasted in a messy film that cannot seem to get an even tone is Cardigan a worthless leader or a comedy character? Are we meant to enjoy the battles or be horrified by them? And what's to be made of Nolan's constant preachy dialogue alongside scenes of comic value? These major problems take away so very much from the film that it is hard to really stick with it and see what little good there is. The cast is made up of every British actor from the period who was between the age of 30 and 60. OK, maybe that is an exaggeration but at times it would have been easy for me to believe that. Hemming plays his character far too solemn and serious a problem when it makes his already poor dialogue sound like the ramblings of a pretentious fool. Howard has fun in his role but his is an one note performance that gets too close to a send up and confuses the tone of the film somewhat. Gielgud is good because he shows the same faults as Howard's character but does it without the overblown blustering. The support cast is made up of many British actors from the period but, without the material, many of them come and go without anything of value to add.
Overall this should have been a much more interesting and engaging film but it blows it with a messy structure, poor plot and uneven and confused tone. The harsh send up of 'the good IL' Empire' and the officer class is well done but is not enough to base the whole film on it should have been a subtext not the whole ballgame. Like another reviewer has said, it is funny that, given the years put into this and the sheer scale of the production that the most memorable and successful parts are the little animations that poke fun at the view this country once held of itself in themselves they are a warning to other would-be empires of our time.
