The Lives of a Bengal Lancer

I am in the group of people who find it upsetting to go into a film based on a book only to discover that that film has little to nothing to do with the events in the book. This goes doubly so for films based on an autobiography, such as The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, a book based on British soldier Francis Yeats-Brown and his experiences in active service in India, France, Mesopotamia, and the Ottoman Empire. Francis was still alive at the time his book was adapted for the screen, and while I couldn’t find any direct reference to his opinions on the film, I can only imagine how incensed I would be over that being done to my life story.  

The film rights were bought up, and initial production went into effect in 1931 with some location shooting in India to add some realism to the film. Unfortunately, plans were not thought out too carefully, and most of the film shot was destroyed by the intense heat while on location, rendering it all but useless. Consequently, there is little to no footage of the actual country portrayed in this film, with southern California substituting for India. This is obvious at times, too, rendering the film a degree of artificiality that other productions, like Trader Horn, avoided. A handicap like this could be overcome with a well-written script with interesting situations and characters, but Bengal Lancer lacks either of these and instead is a bit of a slog getting through, relying on some heavy-handed tropes to pad out its run-time. 

Ultimately, the film was a box-office success, especially in Britain, leading to star Gary Cooper getting cast in a series of like-minded films of diminishing quality. It also brought with it a new wave of Imperial adventure tales, some of which are genuine classics like Gunga Din and The Charge of the Light Brigade. Reviews at the time were glowing, calling it one of the greatest adventure films of all time, but more contemporary views are less enthusiastic. In more recent years, it has become less readily available and is not on any of the basic streaming services. This made it a little tricky to even find a copy for me to review. Eventually, someone I know who runs a site overseas pointed me in the right direction to view this for this review.

The film follows a handful of soldiers on the northwest frontier of India. Scottish Canadian Lieutenant Alan McGregor (Gary Cooper) is in charge of the newcomers, including two replacement officers to the 41st Bengal Lancers: Lieutenants John Forsythe (Franchot Tone) and Donald Stone (Richard Cromwell). While Forsythe is an experienced officer, Stone is not. Stone has been called up to the Lancers specifically and assumes it is because their commander, Colonel Tom Stone (Guy Standing), is his father. But the colonel was not the one that requested him, and Donald is quickly disillusioned when he realizes that his father outwardly shows no special interest in his own son. The reality is that Colonel Stone places the service above all else, including his family, and even though he does love his son, he feels he cannot show any favoritism, nor outward emotion when in public. This perceived coldness causes Donald to feel rejected as he looked forward to spending time with his father, whom he barely knows.

Meanwhile, there is a plot going on about Mohammed Khan (Douglass Dumbrille), a wealthy prince who is ostensibly a friend of the British but is secretly fighting for Bengal’s independence from British rule. At some point, frustrated with being kept at arm’s length, Donald Stone flees and is captured by Khan’s men, who hold him for ransom. The rest of the Lancers are ordered not to go after him lest the fragile truce that is in place get broken and all-out war break out. Naturally, not all of the men are willing to obey that order. 

There is nothing particularly noteworthy in the relationship between Donald and his father. This kind of familial relationship has been explored on many occasions in film and the written page, and this film doesn’t take it into any new territory. The sole exception is during a brief encounter between the two men when Donald, frustrated and angry when he discovers it was not his father that requested him, storms out of his office, missing the one moment when his father shows any emotion towards the boy. It’s a touching scene and shows that the Colonel does have a heart, even if he hides it behind rank and responsibility. 

This is a film that is in desperate need of sequences that stand out and are exciting. It takes place in an exotic locale but fails to take advantage of that, including any stock footage of native animals. There are a handful of entertaining moments, mainly surrounding Forsythe, who is basically a comedic foil for both McGregor and Stone. The best of these is a sequence where Forsythe has gotten ahold of a type of flute that sounds a bit like a bagpipe. He is playing it to annoy McGregor only to discover that it has attracted a cobra that has moved in up close and is held captive by the music, leaving Forsythe in a position where he doesn’t dare stop playing lest he get bitten. Forsythe does a good job of adding some levity to the film, but he is absent often enough that the film is often treading water rather than being entertaining. 

The climax of the film is really the only place where the movie really takes off. It takes the better part of the last half-hour of the moviefilm, and it legitimately is exciting to watch. There are some great stunts and danger on screen and a death that comes as a surprise. The way this was put together is far superior to any of the interpersonal drama that led up to it. While it ends the film on a high note, it cannot compensate for the rather lackluster build-up to it. 

The Lives of a Bengal Lancer is a middle-of-the-road picture that benefited from an audience that was hungry for this kind of drama in the mid-1930s. That is no longer the case, and it has aged poorly in the last ninety years. There is nothing overtly offensive in it, but it fails to spark any real interest in the affairs on screen until the climax, at which point it is too little, too late to save it. As a relic of its time, there are things worth seeing here, but overall, it is not the best example of cinema from this era nor is it the worst. It’s worth watching if you don’t mind the soap-opera-level relationships and the slow pacing. The most damning thing I can say about it is that I would have been appalled had they taken an autobiography of me, thrown out everything in it, including me, and tried to capitalize on the title alone. 

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: Louis D. Lighton

Best Art Direction: Hans Dreier and Roland Anderson

Best Assistant Director: Clem Beauchamp and Paul Wing (won)

Best Directing: Henry Hathaway

Best Film Editing: Ellsworth Hoagland

Best Sound Recording: Franklin B. Hansen

Best Adapted Screenplay: William Slavens McNutt, Grover Jones, Waldemar Young, John L. Balderston, and Achmed Abdullah

____________________________________________________

Release Date: January 11, 1935

Running Time: 109 Minutes

Not Rated

Starring: Gary Cooper, Franchot Tone, Richard Cromwell, and Guy Standing

Directed By: Henry Hathaway