Pluskylang Great Film overall

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

sddavis63 I found it hard to watch this movie and not be reminded of "Mutiny On The Bounty." Most noticeably, the two movies were released in the same year (1935) and both included Franchot Tone as a co-star. "Mutiny" was, of course, set on a British naval ship in the South Pacific, "Lives" is set on a British Army post in India. In both movies, Tone finds himself playing alongside better known American actors (Clark Gable in the former, Gary Cooper in this.) And both movies feature a tough as nails disciplinarian as commanding officer (Capt. Bligh, of course, in "Mutiny" and Col. Stone in "Lives.") The similarities between the two was probably what kept occurring to me as I watched this."The Lives Of A Bengal Lancer" is essentially about a local tribal chief in India whose goal is to hijack a British munitions train as part of an uprising he's planning against the British - but this really only takes centre stage in the last half hour or so of the movie. Up to that point, I have to confess that I found this rather monotonous. The story introduced a bit of melodrama by having Col. Stone's 21 year old son, freshly graduated from military college) posted as an officer to the regiment. Really, though, there's not a great deal in this opening two thirds or so of the film that justify some of the accolades this film gets as a great action-adventure movie. I will give credit to that last third of the story, though. Once Stone's son is captured by the tribal chief's men and the inevitable attempt at rescue takes place (against Col. Stone's direct orders) the story does get pretty exciting. There's even a somewhat uneasy (although completely non-graphic, because this was 1935) torture scene in which burning bamboo shoots are driven under the captured British officer's fingernails.The performances in this were fine. Cooper and Tone were both very good in their roles. Cooper's American accent was explained away, I guess, by having his character of Lt. McGregor be identified as a Canadian. The supporting cast was also very good. There are even a couple of prophetic hints in the movie that the British Empire may be starting to fade away (as it indeed would, after the Second World War.) The good last half hour or so of the movie raised it a bit in my estimation, but I have to admit that I can't see what would have made this a worthy nominee for seven Academy Awards. I thought it was a bit of a sleeper with a good finish. (5/10)

Theo Robertson Long before I saw this I knew a small trivia fact and that is it's reported to have been Adolph Hitler's favourite movie . It's not contradictory . The Indian sub-continent is the birth place of the swastika and is proudly displayed everywhere , well almost everywhere because I don't recall seeing any of them in Manali which is the Mecca for the Israeli stoner . Interesting too that the Nazis were very much pro Muslim and had during the war two Waffen SS divisions one of which the 13th Waffen SS division was composed of Bosnian Muslims and the other the 14th Waffen SS division being composed of Albanians . The Nazis got round the small matter of these Muslims being Slavs by categorizing them as Persians hence qualified as Indo-AyransApparently Hitler was fascinated by the fact a small island like Britain could govern and rule a large country like India with a population of over 300 million inhabitants . This is easily explained . India is a large country with massive diversity . What you do is divide and rule , just convince the people in one state are British and the people in the next state are a bunch of trouble makers saying nasty things about the royal family and need sorting out . If the people in the next state are of a different religion well that makes the task much easier . Hitler had future designs on ruling the Soviet Union along similar lines but went around it the wrong way by committing genocide against the entire Soviet population . If he only convinced people in conquered territories that they were German and the people up the road were nasty communists intent on causing nuisance then he might have won the war . He should have listened to the dialogue in the opening scene when McGregor is warned " You're far too impulsive "Being a Hollywood movie not too much is given to facts . It's not factual that cobras are attracted to music because they have no ears and the hyponotic effect of a snake charmer on a cobra is down to body language . Neither is it correct that a Muslim falling in battle is guaranteed " forty eight maidens in paradise " The number is supposedly seventy two but the real figure is actually zero . There is also no such race as " Scotch " which is an alcoholic beverage and the correct term is Scottish which will be of no interest to anyone outside of Scotland But Hollywood don't do documentaries . Hollywood does spectacle , action and derring do and this movie has it in abundance . This is Boys Own adventure printed on celluloid and fueled an appetite for historical adventure and being from the golden era of Hollywood it's rather more enjoyable than the long winded CGI driven stuff like we got with TITANIC and PEARL HARBOR . It does seem contrived that two of the main characters have North American accents since one is supposed to be Scotch Canadian and the other was brought up in America . It also contains the line " The Scotch are a queer race " so I guess it also influenced Pat Robertson as well as Hitler

GManfred This movie could be called a forerunner to "Gunga Din". British Colonial Army in India, 3 buddies, and two have to go to rescue one. 'Gunga Din' did it better, though, and there is an undercurrent of animosity and less chemistry among the three here.The action is uneven, coming at the beginning and at the end of the picture, and in between it is a character study. Luckily for director Hathaway he had some excellent acting talent on hand and you are not conscious of the lack of action. C.Aubrey Smith, Sir Guy Standing, Douglas Dumbrille and Akim Tamiroff are present, in addition to the 3 principals, Cooper, Franchot Tone And Richard Cromwell. Standing is especially good as the Company Commander. He gives a sensitive, nuanced performance worthy of a British stage actor, which he was before coming to Hollywood. I don't often insert spoilers in my reviews but I just had to make mention of one of my all-time villainous movie characters, the wimpy, feckless Lt. Stone, played by Richard Cromwell. It is he who gets Gary Cooper killed towards the end of the picture and which has earned him my everlasting animosity. Why couldn't they just leave him prisoner? Why couldn't they get a different actor? Truly, there never was such a weakling as Cromwell.As you can see, I take my action heroes seriously. Maybe that's what makes motion pictures so entertaining - if done well, they seem real. "Lives Of A Bengal Lancer" easily earns a 7.

rosinbag For those of you young Gary Cooper fans out there, like myself, check out this great movie. It was filmed in the era of Gunga Din, Robin Hood, and They Died With Their Boots On and more than holds it's own with all of them. The Coop is at his best in this one, though for some reason this film is not touted as among his best. It doesn't receive the fanfare High Noon, Pride of the Yankees, or Sergeant York do, and that is a shame. This is a truly entertaining film for people of all ages---it has laughs, plenty of action, and surprising emotion. Check it out.