Charge of the Lancers

This is director Castle's weakest epic offering that I have watched so far, devoid even of the hokey qualities that rendered SERPENT OF THE NILE (1953) tolerable and the entertaining campiness that marked SINS OF JEZEBEL (1953), from the same producer (Sam Katzman) and star (Paulette Goddard)!

As the title suggests, this is one from the fictionalized cinematic files of the British Empire (we even get to see Florence Nightingale do her thing!), except that the titular attack only turns up at the very end and, what is worse, is a direct replica of its own opening skirmish (though, instead of coming off as audacious – as Luis Bunuel's deliberate repetition of one particular sequence in THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL {1962} would eventually be – here it smacks of cheapskate tactics)! Besides, for whatever reason, the male lead was French Jean-Pierre Aumont (it is just possible that no British, or at least one who naturally spoke English, actor was prepared to lower his standard by appearing in such low-brow fare!) – we are also supposed to believe him as an amateur boxer! As for Goddard, she was on her last legs anyway as an actress, so she probably would have welcomed any part at this point – but it still does not excuse her embarrassing performance (as a gypsy) here!

The plot is quite dreary (involving romantic antagonism which eventually unveils a traitor, and there is also trickery with respect to a secret weapon coveted by the enemy, as the hero's best friend feigns amnesia so as not to spill the beans when captured, while Aumont himself naturally dons gypsy garb to move unnoticed in enemy territory when a General unsurprisingly takes a shine to the earthy and deliberately flirtatious Goddard) and the handling thoroughly dull (as if the director were somehow uncommitted to – certainly uninspired by – the material at his disposal). In the end, at just 70 minutes, the film makes for harmless enough (if decidedly unendearing) viewing…though the overall poor quality of the TCM-sourced print (especially when viewed on a 40" monitor) only serves to notch yet another point against it!

Paulette Goddard's career was tumbling ever downward by the time she did CHARGE OF THE LANCERS.

Indeed, about a half-hour of plot is developed before she even makes an appearance as a gypsy girl in a caravan, helping JEAN PIERRE AUMONT escape being captured by the Russians during the Crimean war. She takes an immediate fancy to Aumont (in his red boxing tights) and eventually helps him rescue his buddy (RICHARD STAPLEY), captured by the Russians who hope to get plans about a new cannon the British are planning to use against their enemy.

Despite the silly script, Jean Pierre Aumont gives a lively and likable performance but Goddard is clearly too old to be addressed as "that girl" and looks rather harsh in some of her Technicolor close-ups. Karin Booth has a thankless role as a Russian spy.

Most favorable aspect of the film is the bright Technicolor which gives it a high-budget look most of the time. William Castle's direction is never able to lift the material above routine. The story, after a fairly lively start, starts to fall apart soon after Goddard's entrance.

Not recommended.

Charge of the Lancers (1954)

** (out of 4)

Here's yet another collaboration between director William Castle and producer Sam Katzman with the end results being just about the same as their other work together. This time out they tackle the Crimean War as a French officer (Jean-Pierre Aumont) uses the help of a gypsy (Paulette Goddard) to get him into Russia to make sure a captured Major (Richard Wyler) hasn't given away the plans of their secret canon. Along the way there are various subplots dealing with comedy and love. CHARGE OF THE LANCERS might have seemed like a good idea on paper but sometimes films just don't come off as planned. I think Castle and Katzman could make some terrific "B" movies and I personally love those low-budget movies. The problem is that the horror, noir and Western genres could really benefit from a low-budget but that's not the case when you try to do a historical drama on such a small scale. I'm not going to lie and say the production values here are as low or poor as something you'd expect to see from Monogram but at the same time it's just so obvious that the film can't be what it wants to be because there's no money to put into it. Yes, some of the costumes look good and yes we get a couple good battle scenes but sadly the screenplay is just one long dialogue piece after another and the majority of the time the talk leads us nowhere except to boredom. One thing Castle could never do was comedy and that's apparent here as well. There are several little comic relief moments but they all fall flat on their face and come off more embarrassing than anything. The actors have certainly seen better days and I lost count of how many different accents one could heard throughout the film. Both Aumont and Wyler are a tad bit too bland in their roles and poor Goddard really seems to only be collecting a paycheck. Castle handles the material about as well as you can but the final battle sequence is pretty much a mess. This one here is certainly only recommended to those who must see everything the director did before meeting Vincent Price.

Apart from the lovely color cinematography, "Charge of the Lancers" is a pretty dull film. That didn't surprise me much, as it was made late in Paulette Goddard's film career...and many of these latter films had one thing in common...dull scripts. Now you'd THINK a film set during the Crimean War would have lots of action and excitement...but no...it's hard to care about the story or the characters.

The plot is pretty slim. The combined British, French and Ottoman forces are at a stalemate with the Russians who are well dug in and control the port of Sevastapol. But a new breech loading cannot will apparently turn the tide...if the folks who know the secret can manage to get out from behind enemy lines. To help them is a Gypsy lady (Goddard).

Dull but colorful. Not much more to say about this, but there MUST be other films about the Crimean War that are more interesting than this!

After Paulette Goddard ran afoul of Cecil B. DeMille when she was in his Unconquered, Paramount dropped her as a player quite abruptly. As a result the woman was scratching for work.

Which brings us to Charge Of The Lancers, a film set during the Crimean War so that the Russians can be cast as villains fighting against the NATO forces of the day, the French, the British, and the kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont which eventually got to rule all of Italy. The war is one of aggression against peace loving Turkey.

With the Crimean War nicely historically rewritten for the Cold War audience taste, the British have developed a new breech loading cannon that the Russians want to get their hands on. Officers Jean Pierre Aumont and Richard Stapley are bringing a prototype for demonstration. The Russians don't get the gun, but they do capture Stapley.

Aumont's mission now is to get Stapley out of Russian hands before he spills the beans. Circumstances put him in the hands of some passing gypsies with one of them being Paulette Goddard.

Why the gypsies decide to help Aumont is beyond reason. You're supposed to accept the proposition that gypsies are natural born intriguers plus Paulette likes what she sees in Aumont.

As for Aumont his French accent is explained by the fact that he's a French officer detached to British service. He must have felt real silly doing this role.

In fact the whole film is pretty silly. Don't charge for the remote when this one is broadcast.