Bengal Brigade

In mid-19th-century India nationalistic feeling is running high. When a British officer, Captain Claybourne, is court-martialled and unfairly disgraced for rescuing his Sepoy troops against the orders of his commanding officer, he receives a tempting offer from a powerful rebel Rajah.

An enjoyable adventure starring Rock Hudson as an officer cashiered from the Regiment for disobeying a direct order, in order to save his men from slaughter. Still Loyal to the Raj and his men, he encounters a plan of an uprising and he intends to quell it. There's some good action scenes, though more in the beginning and end. It can be quite thought-provoking as well as lively and it basks in Technicolor. It's stunningly photographed and features lavish costumes and eye catching scenery. Ursula Theiss -Robert Taylor's 2nd wife - plays a native called Lata, who helps Hudson in his mission. Arlene Dahl adds some glamour. Arnold Moss is suitably oily as the villain. Hudson comes across sincere, emphatic as well as heroic.

A thoroughly enjoyable story. Rock Hudson is cashiered from the Regiment for disobeying a direct order, in order to save his men from slaughter. He is still loyal to the Raj and ultimately his loyalty to his men is returned to him in the last exciting action scene when India is in the throws of the Mutiny. Excellent action scenes and characterisations make this a movie well worth watching.

The first couple of years of the decade, Rock Hudson was just breaking into the business, playing bit parts or Indian chiefs. Within a couple more years, he was headlining movies, but not all of them were great. If you doubt that, you obviously haven't rented The Golden Blade, Sea Devils, or Captain Lightfoot yet. I wasn't able to get through any of those, but I did manage to sit through Bengal Brigade, solely because it was Rock Hudson's time as Star of the Week and I thought I owed it to him to review at least one terrible movie.

The story of this one is intriguing, but it's executed so poorly, it's just not worth watching unless Rock Hudson is your favorite actor or celebrity boyfriend and you want to watch all of his movies. Rock is a soldier in the British army in occupied India during the 1800s. He disobeys an order during a battle and gets court-martialed. After a harsh reprimand, he resigns from the army and makes it his personal mission to redeem himself and prove that he's not a disgrace to his country. Along the way, he tries to infiltrate among Indian rebels and reassure his fiancé Arlene Dahl that his feelings haven't changed, even though he can't marry her just yet. Seriously, folks, this is not another Four Feathers. This is a B-picture from the '50s, and if you've ever sat through one of those, you know that you don't want to make a habit of it.

I can't imagine that a director such as Laslo Benedek made this adventure studio movie, a film that could be done by a Budd Boetticher, Joseph Pevney, Douglas Sirk - why not...All Universal home directors of this period, among many others: Nathan Juran, Jack Arnold...But Laslo Benedek;..I can't believe it. What happened to him? I can understand THE WILD ONE, but this adventure flick.... Ths director seemed to have greatest difficulties to find his own trademark. He worked for US movie and TV industry, European productions too. NIGHT VISITOR is a terrific story, but I still don't understand why Benedek made this however excellent adventure war yarn about the fall of the British colonialism. I recommend it.

The most surprising thing about this movie is that it was directed by Laslo Benedek ,a man associated with the more serious end of the movie market -as per Death of a Salesman and the Brando vehicle The Wild One .It is set in the year 1856 in British India ,more specifically on the North West Frontier .Rock Hudson is improbably cast as a British army Captain who is tried ,convicted and forced to resign his commission for disobeying the orders of a senior officer even though by doing so he was responsible for the capture of a key rebel stronghold .He becomes a big game hunter but continues to be devoted to the British cause and infiltrates a group of rebels plotting to overthrow the Raj .In between all these distractions he manages to make time to woo Vivian Morrow(Arlene Dahl)the daughter of the regimental commander Colonel Morrow (Tobin Thatcher) Hudson is miscast but battles valiantly with the role ,Dahl is merely decorative as is Ursula Thiess . The best performances -mostly because they are better cast-are given by Thatcher and Dan O'Herlihy as British soldiers

This is a good co-feature movie and will be enjoyed by lovers of the old style "ripping yarn