The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)

The Charge of the Light Brigade is a 1936 American historical adventure film from Warner Bros. Pictures, starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. It was directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Samuel Bischoff, with Hal B. Wallis as the executive producer. The film's screenplay is by Michael Jacoby and Rowland Leigh, from a story by Michael Jacoby, and based on the 1854 poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The music score was composed by Max Steiner, his first for Warner Bros., and the cinematography was by Sol Polito. Scenes were shot at the following California locations: Lone Pine, Sherwood Lake, Lasky Mesa, Chatsworth, and Sonora. The Sierra Nevada mountains were used for the Khyber Pass scenes.

The filming of the charge sequence led to the death of 25 horses, which led to legislative action by the U.S. Congress and action by the ASPCA to prevent further cruelty by film directors and producers.

The film's screenplay is very loosely based on the famous Charge of the Light Brigade that occurred during the Crimean War (1853–56). Additionally, the storyline includes an event similar to the Siege of Cawnpore during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

This was the second of eight films in which Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland costar.

The supporting cast features Flynn look-alike Patric Knowles as Flynn's character's brother, David Niven, Nigel Bruce, Henry Stephenson, Donald Crisp, Robert Barrat, Spring Byington, J. Carrol Naish and E. E. Clive.