The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)

Nominated for 8 Oscars, and winner of two in a dead category "Assistant Director," I guess they were REALLY good at getting coffee on the set. Back where there were 12 best picture nominees [and you think 10 is a lot right now], this film lost to John Ford's The Informer. A selection to the 101 Action Movies book, and one of the oldest in the book.

This film directed by Henry Hathaway, who is best known for his westerns like How the West Was Won. It stars Gary Cooper, at no significant point in his long career other than the year before Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, two decades before he won his first Oscar. The film is about the British military in India fighting rebel forces. Considered an adventure/drama in it's era but more of a war film by today's standards. The scenes of charging men on horseback and shootouts, explosions and sword fighting all make this an action film. The drama between the father and son and Cooper's character really make this a drama more than anything.

It is not always easy to pigeonhole a film into a specific genre, and this one has a little of everything. It was kinda boring at times though, and the supporting actors weren't the best. All in all a good Cooper film but I think he still has better ones.



Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026643/

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