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!

This 1954 film certainly isn't one of her best. Playing opposite Jean-Pierre Aumont in a rather silly flick about a gypsy girl who shields an escaped soldier during the Crimean War is sadly lacking the Goddard touch. It's almost like she was held back from even making this a campy movie like BABES IN BAGDAD, also one of her last films. However, as a fan of hers, it's always good to see her in any film. I had not seen this movie before and was fortunate to get it, rather inexpensively, over Ebay. I now can say I own 41 of her films on VHS. Not counting her silent films, she made 42! Still searching for BABES IN BAGDAD, in case someone knows where I can get a copy.

CHARGE OF THE LANCERS is in Technicolor and produced for Columbia Pictures by William Castle. Paulette still is an attractive woman, with a lovely figure and captivating smile. Several of her films are now coming out on DVD, such as GHOST BREAKERS, REAP THE WILD WIND, THE WOMEN and POT O' GOLD.

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.

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.

Of course, any movie buff will have recognized here a very, very poor man's CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE rip-off, because of the plot, historic line, not that usual concerning Balaclava battle, during the eighteenth century. Poor Jean-Pierre Aumont and Paulette Goddard who had to deal with the infamous producer Sam Katzman, despite the good directing skills of William Castle, the great future director of HOUSE ON THE HAUNTED HILL. This was his Columbia period, under the Katzman's reign, junk factory for thrillers, adventure, westerns - only science fiction did not seem to be too much concerned. So this very movie is fun, amusing, but sooo lame, lousy. Forgive them please. Only Katzman was responsible.