Bengal Brigade (1954)

Adventure and thrilling movie set in India in the turbulent late 19th century . It is a rousing , moving , stirring tale , but rough-edged fare . A breathtaking and colorful adventure with great cast and full of action , thrills , battles and love . Rock Hudson that in The Magnificent Obssesion caused sensation here in his most exciting role . The story of a love that was greater than honor and race ; and a courage that stood alone against the fury of India's great rebellion , 1857 . Set in India as the title indicates , half-legend , half-land ...alive and wondrous thanks to spectacular outdoors through the magic of sterophonic sound , big screen , and anamorphic lens . The approaching on anniversary of one hundred years of British rule has brought growing unrest and occasional uprising among the natives . The famed Bengal Rifles Regiment ,Indian soldiers commanded by British officers , have pursued Siri Nath's rebels to the mountain fortress of Malakai Pass . The great desert , thundering path of empire, the fanatic rebel horsemen and the hordes of Siri Nath . And the crowning spectacle of the man who carved a saga of battle and love across the towering peaks of the an immense country : India . There a stubborn captain is faced with restoring his reputation . From marble palace to teeming jungle all India rocked with the violence of the great rebellion ! Adventure movie set in India with plenty of fights , emotion , thrills and overwhelming battles . Dealing with interesting issues such as imperialism , colonialism and racism . One of Hudson' s best adventure movies , but still within his tradition of making adventure movies which spanned around the world . And it packs a colorful photography in Technicolor , with color de Luxe . Rock Hudson as Captain Clayboune plays with some sensitivity the court-martialled officer for disobeying a superior's order , even though this action led to the capture a rebel-held stronghold ; as he is isolated by his colleagues and by the girlfriend's father . Hudson work is well up to his ordinary high standards , playing the tough commander after being harshly disciplined, then he takes his life to get redemption . Rock Hudson gives an acceptable acting as an obstinate officer who is sadly degradated , but whose wartime bravery earns him ,definitively , a string of honours . This is Hudson's third adventure in the East , the others were : Spiral road , Battle Hymm , and Thunder of God . Rock was Douglas Sirk's fetish actor including essential titles as Taza , Magnificent obsession , Written in the wind , among others . While his love interest is played by the gorgeous Arlene Dahl , as well as Úrsula Thiess who married Robert Taylor . Úrsula began her professional career as a model, landing small movie roles and eventually relocating to California, where her Hollywood career bloomed .Her film credits include Monsoon, The Iron Glove and this Bengal Brigade, co-starred Rock Hudson. She also appeared with Glenn Ford in The Americano and with Robert Mitchum in Bandido . There are strong , but brief performances from Torin Thatcher , Dan O'Herlihy , Michael Ansara , Leonard Strong , and special mention for the villain Arnold Moss who often performs baddie roles , among others .Lavishly produced by Ted Richmond and Universal International , being accompanied by brilliant and glimmer cinematography carried out by director of photography by Maury Gertsman .Shooting in Lone Pine , Backlot, Universal Studios , Iverson Ranch , Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California . Thrilling as well as sensitive musical score by Hans J. Salter and uncredited : Herman Stein and Stanley Wilson . The motion picture was well directed by Laslo Benedek , but it is an unusual subject for Benedek to direct . He made important and decent films , such as : Port of New York , Death of a Salesman , The kissing bandit , Daring game , Assault on Agathon , The Night Visitor and various TV episodes . Benedek drew out convincing, evocative performances from Kevin McCarthy, Cameron Mitchell, Fredric March , Mildred Dunnock and , of course , Marlon Brando and Rock Hudson . Rating : 6, Acceptable and passable film . The flick will appeal to Rock Hudson fans .

While this is certainly a very entertaining movie, it doesn't at all obviously historically accurate. Obviously told from the British perspective, it is the story of the uprising of Indian rebels against the British rule of their motherland and the British officer (Rock Hudson!) who professes love for both England and India. He is put on trial after false testimony concerning an order he was accused of not obeying and he is basically court-martialed. The Indian Raja wants to utilize his military skills to train Indian soldiers to fight against the British army which would automatically make him a traitor or cause his instant death the minute he refused the Raja. This leads to battle scenes where the British, who had basically tried to take over most of the world by this point in real history, are presented as heroes, and the Raja and his followers as the villain.Centuries of British rule obviously caused anger in the Indian natives, and here, there are also rumors that the British purposely put cow fat on the bullets that they sell to the Hindus and pig fat on the bullets they sell to the Muslims. The Hindus and Muslims believe that this will make them return to the earth as slugs, but as they reveal, this is only a method of the Raja to turn the natives against the British. This makes the rebels rather one dimensional and put sympathy on the English. Of course, with Hudson present, there's also a romantic triangle, with him in love with the General's daughter (Arlene Dahl) at the beginning but breaking up with her out of bitterness as to his fate, and later hanging around a beautiful Indian girl (Ursula Theiss).The action sequences are well done, and there is also a very tense hunting scene with Hudson and a tiger seeing eye to eye as they stalk each other. It is beautifully photographed and features gorgeous costumes and scenery, but there is never any doubt in my mind that Hudson is not at all believable as being British. So with all the films that Hollywood has made which distort history for dramatic effect or for other motives, its best to take them with a grain of salt, roll your eyes as little as possible, then do your own research to figure out what really happened in the history that they are trying to present.

Coming out a year after 20th Century Fox's King Of The Khyber Rifles, Bengal Brigade from Universal covered a whole lot of the same ground, but not as well. Bengal Brigade is a story of the Sepoy Rebellion in India during the 19th Century or at least a small portion of it seen from Rock Hudson's corner of India.When we meet Hudson he disobeys orders and leads a troop of men to rescue his own former company that was trapped and being cut to pieces by rebels. For that he gets a court martial and he resigns. That also has the effect of breaking his engagement to Arlene Dahl the daughter of his commander Torin Thatcher. Another officer Dan O'Herlihy who lied about some key points at Hudson's court martial is looking to catch Dahl on the rebound.After leaving the army Hudson starts hearing bits and pieces about a mutiny among the native Sepoy troops. But it comes fast and furious and Hudson along with the rest of the British are soon fighting for their lives.I don't think Bengal Brigade would do too well if it were shown in India today. The Sepoy Rebellion in their history goes down as the first strike for independence from the British Raj. The troops led by Michael Ansara who stay loyal to Hudson because of his identification with them would be regarded in American terms as Uncle Toms today.Ursula Thiess plays a strange role as a Hindu dancer who's got a big old crush on Hudson. It's her reason for betraying her own people and aiding him and the British.King Of The Khyber Rifles was a far better film than Bengal Brigade.

This "Bengal brigade" is a far cry from Henry Hathaway's classic in the thirties starring Gary Cooper and Franchot Tone ,both more exciting than Rock Hudson -who nevertheless was about to find some of his best parts in Douglas Sirk's great works- Almost twenty years later ,it's the same old song: the British are here to help the Indians ,some of the natives are cruel (like Mohammed Khan in "lives of a Bengal lancer" ) but the moral remains:both her majesty's soldiers and the Indians have got to walk hand in hand and to become brothers.Rock Hudson portrays an officer forced to resign after an unfair trial.Will he betray his queen and country?He is helped by beautiful Latah (Ursula Thiess);actually ,without her,he would be defeated.Arlene Dahl is only decorative ,as the colonel's daughter. It lacks humor,panache ,excitement,magic ,poetry ,all that made Hathaway's movie a classic of the adventures movie,in spite of its reactionary side.