A vintage Hollywood actioner which throws together three British soldiers in the mutinous Victorian-era Indian Raj and examines in an entertaining way themes of camaraderie, bravery and father and son relationships in the process.
Gary Cooper is the experienced, regimental sergeant, who can read his crusty old commander, played by Guy Standing, like a book but whose routine is interrupted with the arrival of two new recruits who are put under his charge. The first one is the coolly experienced, if flippant Franchot Tone, the other, baby-faced 21 year old greenhorn Richard Cromwell, who just happens to be the son of Standing. Cromwell's character has crossed the continent to prove his manliness to his remote, career-soldier widower dad but dad is scrupulously determined not to show any favouritism to his boy.
We see these relationships play out as the film progresses through scenes both melodramatic and humorous which will determine the actions taken by the three soldiers at the film's climax. The humour principally lies in the initially testy tie-up between Cooper and the constantly irritating Tone while the melodrama comes from their witnessing the difficult father-son act being played out in front of them by Standing and Cromwell which eventually sees them rebel against the commander's dispassionate orders and seek to rescue Cromwell who has been captured by the scheming if remarkably well-spoken Indian overlord out to expel the occupying Brits.
It all builds to an explosive climax where sacrifices are made, honour restored and reconciliations effected. I don't know why Cooper's character was made to be part-Scotch (how we Scots hate that descriptive term!) or given a pencil-thin moustache but he carries the film as its moral compass and active conscience. He interacts well with Tone's more devil-may-care character although by the end they're unsurprisingly both singing from the same hymn sheet. I've read that young Cromwell was briefly a heartthrob of the day and he's fine too as the eager-to-please if wilful son, who is tested above and beyond his own limits.
I enjoyed in particular Tone's snake-charming encounter with a cobra and his and Cooper's frequent use of a coin-toss to settle their disagreements but could certainly have done without the pig-sticking sequence which is as ugly to witness as its description makes it sound.
Cooper was to return a few years later in another "brothers-three" yarn, the better-known "Beau Geste" but if you can put aside the colonial politics, this stirring movie, excitingly directed by Henry Hathaway, is well worth catching.
Gary Cooper is the experienced, regimental sergeant, who can read his crusty old commander, played by Guy Standing, like a book but whose routine is interrupted with the arrival of two new recruits who are put under his charge. The first one is the coolly experienced, if flippant Franchot Tone, the other, baby-faced 21 year old greenhorn Richard Cromwell, who just happens to be the son of Standing. Cromwell's character has crossed the continent to prove his manliness to his remote, career-soldier widower dad but dad is scrupulously determined not to show any favouritism to his boy.
We see these relationships play out as the film progresses through scenes both melodramatic and humorous which will determine the actions taken by the three soldiers at the film's climax. The humour principally lies in the initially testy tie-up between Cooper and the constantly irritating Tone while the melodrama comes from their witnessing the difficult father-son act being played out in front of them by Standing and Cromwell which eventually sees them rebel against the commander's dispassionate orders and seek to rescue Cromwell who has been captured by the scheming if remarkably well-spoken Indian overlord out to expel the occupying Brits.
It all builds to an explosive climax where sacrifices are made, honour restored and reconciliations effected. I don't know why Cooper's character was made to be part-Scotch (how we Scots hate that descriptive term!) or given a pencil-thin moustache but he carries the film as its moral compass and active conscience. He interacts well with Tone's more devil-may-care character although by the end they're unsurprisingly both singing from the same hymn sheet. I've read that young Cromwell was briefly a heartthrob of the day and he's fine too as the eager-to-please if wilful son, who is tested above and beyond his own limits.
I enjoyed in particular Tone's snake-charming encounter with a cobra and his and Cooper's frequent use of a coin-toss to settle their disagreements but could certainly have done without the pig-sticking sequence which is as ugly to witness as its description makes it sound.
Cooper was to return a few years later in another "brothers-three" yarn, the better-known "Beau Geste" but if you can put aside the colonial politics, this stirring movie, excitingly directed by Henry Hathaway, is well worth catching.