Copyright 24 January 1935 by Paramount Productions, Inc. Presented by Adolph Zukor. New York opening at the Paramount, 11 January 1935 (ran 3 weeks). Sydney opening at the Prince Edward, 16 February 1935 (ran a staggering 8 weeks, the theater's biggest success since 1931 — and continuing so until a 10-week season of French Without Tears in 1940). 11 reels. 109 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Two new officers of the 41st Regiment of Bengal Lancers arrive in north-west India and are placed under the wing of an old hand. (There's a mixed metaphor for you – from the movie's Press Sheet).
NOTES: Academy Award, Clem Beauchamp and Paul Wing, Assistant Directors (defeating Eric Stacey for Les Miserables, and Joseph Newman for David Copperfield).
Also nominated for Best Picture (Mutiny on the Bounty), Directing (John Ford for The Informer), Screenplay (The Informer), Art Direction (The Dark Angel), Film Editing (A Midsummer Night's Dream), and Sound Recording (Naughty Marietta).
Second only to David Copperfield in The Film Daily 1935 poll of U.S. film critics. A New York Times "Ten Best". Number 7 on the National Board of Review list.
COMMENT: Hathaway had previously directed Cooper and Shirley Temple in Now and Forever, but Lives of a Bengal Lancer was the movie that really made his reputation. Of course he had a great script to begin with, a marvelous cast, and some superb technicians. One of the most exciting adventures ever filmed, the gripping, witty script perfectly captures the India of Kipling and the British raj (much more so than movies like Gandhi and Heat and Dust).
The dialogue with its smart wise-cracking lines, and the characters so memorably and indelibly drawn, are given perfect life by an absolutely first-rate cast. Cooper never had a better role, serving as an effective stooge for Tone and a remarkable catalyst for the rest of the players, particularly Smith and Cromwell. Tone has the best of the witty lines, delivering them with such delightful ease and polished suavity as to win over even those skeptics to whom adventure films are hardly flavor-of-the-month.
Sir Guy Standing also contributes a beautifully rounded characterization. He is one of the empire breed, floundering in personal relationships, yet parrying the villainous Douglas Dumbrille with diplomatic skill. Mr. Dumbrille makes with the menacing sneer with his usual oleaginous charm, while Kathleen Burke purrs seductively as his accomplice in a small but memorably villainous role. And we cannot leave the players without singling out Akim Tamiroff for his deliciously wheezy portrait of a friendly Emir.
Directed with such flair as to make the whole exotic action and background thoroughly believable, superbly photographed (even if the masterfully lit studio material tends to show up the cruder 2nd unit and location footage), with eye-catching sets and a rousing music score, Lives of a Bengal Lancer is one of the greatest adventure movies of all time.
Using an astonishingly literate script which spoofs the romanticism of Kilpingesque narrative clichés while retaining the essence of Kipling's imperial philosophy (doubtless carried over from the autobiographical original novel), director Henry Hathaway certainly creates a solid impression of authenticity. . But Hathaway's talent is not the only one to admire in this remarkable film: The photography of Charles Lang, stunning in its deep focus shots of cavalry winding through rocky defile, breathtaking in its group shots where a skillful deployment of light and shadow give the illusion of a third dimension.
I must also commend the distinguished playing of Sir Guy Standing as Colonel Stone, — note especially those scenes in which he changes from a ramrod martinet to a stammering father, note the brief, despairing glance of his eyes; — or note their twinkle when he deals suave diplomacy under the guise of a harmless old buffer of the pukka sahib school.
C. Aubrey Smith is also a stand-out as Major Hamilton, whose resonant voice so beautifully expounds the glories of empire; and I must also commend the disarmingly relaxed, easy performance of Franchot Tone. Douglas Dumbrille as Ahmed Khan has some effective dialogue exchanges — I love the scene where he haggles over the price of rugs with Cooper and Tone, who are disguised as Indian merchants. Suddenly his face breaks into a sarcastic smile: "Come, come, gentlemen!" he says. "Is this becoming officers of the King's 41st Lancers?"
SYNOPSIS: Two new officers of the 41st Regiment of Bengal Lancers arrive in north-west India and are placed under the wing of an old hand. (There's a mixed metaphor for you – from the movie's Press Sheet).
NOTES: Academy Award, Clem Beauchamp and Paul Wing, Assistant Directors (defeating Eric Stacey for Les Miserables, and Joseph Newman for David Copperfield).
Also nominated for Best Picture (Mutiny on the Bounty), Directing (John Ford for The Informer), Screenplay (The Informer), Art Direction (The Dark Angel), Film Editing (A Midsummer Night's Dream), and Sound Recording (Naughty Marietta).
Second only to David Copperfield in The Film Daily 1935 poll of U.S. film critics. A New York Times "Ten Best". Number 7 on the National Board of Review list.
COMMENT: Hathaway had previously directed Cooper and Shirley Temple in Now and Forever, but Lives of a Bengal Lancer was the movie that really made his reputation. Of course he had a great script to begin with, a marvelous cast, and some superb technicians. One of the most exciting adventures ever filmed, the gripping, witty script perfectly captures the India of Kipling and the British raj (much more so than movies like Gandhi and Heat and Dust).
The dialogue with its smart wise-cracking lines, and the characters so memorably and indelibly drawn, are given perfect life by an absolutely first-rate cast. Cooper never had a better role, serving as an effective stooge for Tone and a remarkable catalyst for the rest of the players, particularly Smith and Cromwell. Tone has the best of the witty lines, delivering them with such delightful ease and polished suavity as to win over even those skeptics to whom adventure films are hardly flavor-of-the-month.
Sir Guy Standing also contributes a beautifully rounded characterization. He is one of the empire breed, floundering in personal relationships, yet parrying the villainous Douglas Dumbrille with diplomatic skill. Mr. Dumbrille makes with the menacing sneer with his usual oleaginous charm, while Kathleen Burke purrs seductively as his accomplice in a small but memorably villainous role. And we cannot leave the players without singling out Akim Tamiroff for his deliciously wheezy portrait of a friendly Emir.
Directed with such flair as to make the whole exotic action and background thoroughly believable, superbly photographed (even if the masterfully lit studio material tends to show up the cruder 2nd unit and location footage), with eye-catching sets and a rousing music score, Lives of a Bengal Lancer is one of the greatest adventure movies of all time.
Using an astonishingly literate script which spoofs the romanticism of Kilpingesque narrative clichés while retaining the essence of Kipling's imperial philosophy (doubtless carried over from the autobiographical original novel), director Henry Hathaway certainly creates a solid impression of authenticity. . But Hathaway's talent is not the only one to admire in this remarkable film: The photography of Charles Lang, stunning in its deep focus shots of cavalry winding through rocky defile, breathtaking in its group shots where a skillful deployment of light and shadow give the illusion of a third dimension.
I must also commend the distinguished playing of Sir Guy Standing as Colonel Stone, — note especially those scenes in which he changes from a ramrod martinet to a stammering father, note the brief, despairing glance of his eyes; — or note their twinkle when he deals suave diplomacy under the guise of a harmless old buffer of the pukka sahib school.
C. Aubrey Smith is also a stand-out as Major Hamilton, whose resonant voice so beautifully expounds the glories of empire; and I must also commend the disarmingly relaxed, easy performance of Franchot Tone. Douglas Dumbrille as Ahmed Khan has some effective dialogue exchanges — I love the scene where he haggles over the price of rugs with Cooper and Tone, who are disguised as Indian merchants. Suddenly his face breaks into a sarcastic smile: "Come, come, gentlemen!" he says. "Is this becoming officers of the King's 41st Lancers?"