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Henry Gordon.) When Geoffrey is sent to Arabia to secure thousands of horses for the British, he meets up with his long-time fiancée, Elsa Campbell (Olivia de Havilland.) Unfortunately, Elsa has hooked up with Perry in the interim, but still feels she should marry Geoffrey.

In fact, the British Lords who were responsible for one of the deadliest blunders in all of military history never get so much as a finger pointed at them during the movie.įlynn and Patric Knowles play Geoffrey and Perry Vickers, sibling British soldiers who have to contend with a murderous (and purely fictional) Indian Chieftain named Surat Khan (C. Michel Jacoby's narrative has virtually nothing to do with the very real Crimean War story it's theoretically based upon, outside of the presence of a lot of galloping horses and falling soldiers.

History students should put away their notepads while watching this one.

Even with Flynn acting like a love-struck nine year-old, however, it's Curtiz who forever stereotyped himself as a tyrant of a director. Though Errol Flynn was on the cusp of major stardom when he and Michael Curtiz teamed up for Warner Bros.' horse and sand epic, The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), Flynn would later contend that the picture was the most miserable experience of his career.never mind that his on-set hijinks also drove his co-star, Olivia de Havilland, to distraction. No one says a director and his leading man have to get along in order to make a terrific movie, but it's a lot easier if at least one of them is capable of behaving like a mature person during the shoot.

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Macefield then burns Geoffery's letter in which he admits his guilt, and takes full responsibilty for the charge. Macefield sends troops to support the fighting and Sebastopol is taken. The sacrifice of Geoffrey and the six hundered Lancers, however, is not in vain. In the battle, the Kahn shoots and mortally wounds Geoffrey, but even as he is dying, he impales the evil prince. Geoffrey, spurred by his anger over the Chukoti massacre, rewrites the orders and leads a death charge against the Khan's stronghold near Balaklava. Meanwhile, the Kahn has joined with the Russians, and Sir Charles Macefield, commander of the British forces in the Crimea, sends orders with Geoffrey to Warrenton not to attack the Kahn. Geoffrey gallantly accepts his personal defeat and protects Perry by sending him away from the ensuing battle. Elsa and Geoffrey escape, and she finally convinces him that she truly loves Perry. The Khan raids the fort, slaughtering the inhabitants, including Colonel Campbell. When he orders Campbell's troops to march to Lohara on maneuvers, he leaves Chukoti vulnerable. There, Benjamin Warrenton is in command and is unaware that Surat Khan has been gathering forces at the border. Perry, meanwhile, has been sent a few miles away to Lohara. Before they can settle their differences, Geoffrey is sent to Tartar, where he bravely outwits border tribesmen, and then to Chukoti where Colonel Campbell and Elsa are stationed. Geoffrey refuses to believe Perry's revelation, and the brothers quarrel bitterly. While Geoffrey has been away, Elsa has fallen in love with his younger brother, Perry. Geoffrey reports to Calcutta, where his fiancée, Elsa Campbell, is staying with her father, the colonel. Geoffrey recognizes the Khan's displeasure, but wins his personal loyalty when he saves the Khan's life during a leopard hunt. Major Geoffrey Vickers of the 27th Bengal Lancers, and Sir Humphrey Harcourt, an English diplomat, visit the Amir Surat Khan of Suristan to tell him that funds previously guaranteed from the British government have been discontinued.