The Lighthorsemen

Plot synopsis:
The film follows Four Australians (Frank, Scotty, Chiller, and Tas) in Palestine in 1917, part of the 4th Light Horse Brigade of the British and Commonwealth Dominion forces. When Frank is wounded and dies of his wounds, he is replaced by Dave. Dave finds himself unable to fire his weapon in combat and is transferred to the Medical Corps, where he will not need to carry a weapon, but where he will still be exposed to the fighting.
The British plan the capture of Beersheba. During an attack by Turkish cavalry, Major Richard Meinertzhagen deliberately leaves behind documents indicating that the attack on Beersheba will only be a diversion. The Australians leave for Beersheba, with limited water and supplies. They bombard the town and the 4,000 Turkish-German defenders prepare for an assault. However, the German military advisor, Reichert, believes it is a diversionary attack and advises the Turkish commander he does not need reinforcements. With time running out and water in short supply, the British command suspect any attack upon Beersheba will probably fail. However, the Australian commanders ask the British to send in the Australian Light Horse—the British consent to what they think is a suicide mission.
On 31 October, the 4th and 12th Light Horse Regiments are ordered to attack. Dave and the rest of the medical detachment prepare for casualties and are ordered in behind the Light Horse. The Turks report the Australian mounted soldiers lining up to charge, however the officer in charge orders the Turks not to open fire until they dismount. The Australians begin advancing on the Turkish positions, gradually speeding up to a charge. The Turks realise too late that the soldiers are not dismounting and open fire. Artillery fire is sporadic and of limited effect and the attack so fast the Turkish infantry forget to adjust the sights on their rifles as the Light Horse get closer, eventually firing straight over the Australians' heads.
During the charge, Tas is killed by an artillery shell. The remaining Australians make it "under the guns" (advancing faster than the artillery can correct its aim for the reduced range) and reach the Turkish trenches. Field Artillery has a Minimum Range and when the call was made that they were "Under The Guns", it meant that the gunners could not depress their guns any lower meaning thatany subsequent shells would land behind the charging Lighthorsemen instead of before or in the middle of them. The Australians capture the first Turkish defences. Scotty and a few others take control of the guns. Chiller is wounded in the trench fight. Dave is struck by a grenade and is seriously wounded while protecting Chiller. Scotty continues to fight on into the town. When most of the remaining Turks surrender, Reichert tries to destroy the wells, but is captured by Scotty. Overall, the attack was a success and the Australians miraculously suffered only 31 dead and 36 wounded. This effectively opened the 'door' and allowed for the subsequent capture of Jerusalem and the rest of the country.General Allenby, in deference to the Holy City, walked into the city, coming as a Liberator not a conqueror.

Tags: murder

Review:
Despite the ubiquitous appearance by Sigrid Thorton, and my having to eat crow over my previous comments on Anthony Andrew's acting ability (no scenery chewing or hamming it up here), I very much enjoyed this outstanding Aussie film.Simon Wincer has directed a wide variety of films, some bad (like the Cheryl Ladd waste of celluloid "Bluegrass" and the turkey "Pharlap") and some very good (like the intense "Harlequin" and the great A&E mini "PT Barnum").
I find this one to be particularly special due to it containing one of the best war sequences on film.Wincer and his crew have excellently interwoven a beautifully done drama with incredible special effects.
The battle sequence at the end if the film is so powerful that even seen on video on an average size home TV it is astounding.
A First World War Australian cavalry -- sorry, mounted infantry -- film set in the Holy Land, that's not something one tends to see every day.
Johnny Turk was the villain that time too.This being an Australian Imperial Force meets the British Army sort of film, there is bound to be a little Pommy-bashing going 'round.
If they cared enough to get details like that right, then I'm sure that says a lot about the effort put into the film as a whole.There is an earlier Australian film about the Light Horse I'd like to see, "Forty Thousand Horsemen" from 1940 or '41 (sources differ).
I began to realize, however, that the first half of the movie is a pretty good reflection of military life prior to the second half of the 20th century: long periods of boredom and routine punctuated by major confrontations.I've noticed that a few reviewers have remarked on the final "cavalry charge," which suggests to me that they really weren't paying much attention to the movie.
You almost want to laugh at the sight of 16" knives against the well-emplaced Turks.This is one of the few war movies based on actual events that is fairly accurate, too.
This colossal 1987 production - believe it or not - from RKO PICTURES is an Australian film closely resembling LAWRENCE OF ARABIA in its intent and rightly compared to ZULU.
With a huge cast of Oz actors and directed by PHAR LAP (look it up) warhorse Simon Wincer it is basically about the last massive charge in the Middle East desert during World War One....an event still on the yearly Australian military forces roster of "Anzac" celebrations.
Others of this time are GALLIPOLI and CAREFUL HE MIGHT HEAR YOU and THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER and WE OF THE NEVER NEVER...each are films made with a lavish widescreen cinema release in mind and each huge Oz successes.
Spectacular Australian film about the men of a World War I light horse unit involved in the 1917 Battle of Beersheeba..
This impressive flick is based on a true story and most of the characters in the film were based on real people and dealing with the continued coming of age of the Australian nation and its soldiers .
The film follows Four Australians, Frank (Gary Sweet), Scotty (Jon Blake who was injured in a car accident and he suffered permanent paralysis and brain damage until his recent death) an Irish-Australian, Chiller (Tim McKenzie) and Tas (John Walton) in Palestine in 1917, part of the 4th Light Horse Brigade of the British and Commonwealth Dominion forces.
After the Second Battle of Gaza ended in complete failure, General Archibald Murray (Tony Bonner) , the commander in chief of the British forces in Egypt and Palestine, was replaced by the distinguished cavalry commander, General Edmund Allenby (Anthony Hawkins) , formerly the commander of the British Third Army on the Western Front to carry out the British plan the capture of Beersheba.
At the ending there takes place the Battle of Beersheba (Turkish: Birüssebi Savaşı) that was one critical element of a wider British offensive, known as the Third Battle of Gaza, aimed at breaking the Ottoman defensive line that stretched from Gaza on the Mediterranean shore to Beersheba ; it took place on 31 October 1917, as part of the Sinai and Palestine campaign during World War I .
Notable was the charge of the Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade, which covered some 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) to overrun and capture the last remaining Ottoman trenches, and secure the surviving wells at Birüssebi .
The heaviest Allied losses were suffered by the British infantry of XX Corps, which lost 116 killed in action, although the total number of men killed during the battle from the British force was far greater, totalling 171 men.It follows in the wake of other Australian New Wave war movies such as Breaker Morant (1980), Gallipoli (1981), and the 5-part TV series Anzacs (1985).
Recurring issues of these films include the Australian identity , such as mateship and friendship , ANZAC spirit , the loss of innocence in war, and breathtaking battles spectacularly filmed .
Acceptable acting from main and support cast including prestigious Aussie/English actors such as Anthony Andrews , Shane Bryant , Sigrid Thornton , Tony Bonner , Gary Tweed , Bill Kerr , though none of the performances are really bad, but none are very good .
Despite being set in Palestine and Egypt, the film was shot entirely on location in Victoria and Hawker, South Australia .
It was nominated for Best Achievement in Cinematography and won an Australian Film Institute award in 1988 for Best Original Music Score and another for Best Achievement in Sound.
Rating: good for the sensitive direction and proficient film-making ; the result is a sort of pacifist-aggressive war adventure .
Historically accurate and meticulously researched, this is one of the genre of "federation-era" war productions in the 1980's by the Australian film industry.
Much of the background and information for this genre came from personal diaries and military archives preserved over the years, which adds credence to the plots, the action and the stories."The Lighthorsemen" highlights the campaign of the Australian mounted rifles in the North Africa battleground of the Great War, and culminates with the last successful action of horse-riding troops in combat.
Without giving away the story too much, the taking of Beersheba in the closing days of 1918 was a decisive event in military history, and the screen portrayal of this action will have you on the edge of your seat.Masterful performances by Jon Blake, Shane Briant and Bill Kerr (all veterans of this movie formula,) the attention to detail, the drama, and the occasional humour make for a very entertaining movie.
I saw only the last half of this one, appropriately enough on Anzac Day, tuning in just as the delicious Nurse Siggy Thornton is writing a love letter that intelligence Major Anthony Andrews is going to mislead Johnny Turk with.
The film is no doubt best viewed on a big screen, but what I did see in the last hour was the Australian Light Horse attack on Beersheba, brilliantly staged and filmed, with hundreds of horses and extras and tonnes of dramatic tension.
It was terribly thoughtful of the Australian commanders to order the attack an hour before sunset when the light is best, and Dean Semler the cinemaphotographer takes full advantage of it.
The real villains are the Germans, all from Central Casting's Nazi division, despite this being a movie about the FIRST World War, but the British officers are also portrayed as pretty perfidious - the guys who made snobbery an art form to cover their incompetence.
No doubt John Ford would have done it differently (I'm not sure he would have handled the horses any better) but this is the Australian point of view.
The final attack on Beersheba is worth the time spent watching the whole thing..
I think that anyone who is interested in this campaign would be satisfied.Because of Australian point of view the role of British army seems to be a little underrated.
The ultimate legend of the ANZACs. The "Charge of the Light Horse" has gone down in the annals of legend, as indeed of history.
This, the definitive film of the event so far, is based on the true story of one couple's involvement in the events of the 1917 desert campaign.
Like the earlier "Forty Thousand Horsemen" (1940), a very similar film in many respects, it leads up to the momentous charge on Beersheeba with style, tension and humour.It was partly a starring vehicle for the wonderfully charismatic action hero Jon Blake, whose sad incapacitation has robbed Australian cinema of one of its shining lights.The scene of the charge is superbly choreographed and filmed, and deserves to be right up there with the chariot race scene from Ben Hur.I cannot conceive of anything more scary than being on the wrong end of a cavalry charge, and this will have you out of your seat.I personally rate this as the best film (of any genre) I have ever seen..
A quickly-paced war tale with a breathtaking charge scene..
It is unpretentious, well-shot, fast-paced, entertaining and interesting from the start.The movie is slow when it needs to be as in when the Lighthorsemen have to take their horses to the brink of exhaustion in order to surprise the German/Turk occupants of Jacob's Well.The characters are mostly very well-defined and you feel for them as the movie moves on.The charge scene is the highlight of the film.
The sight of several hundred charging horses is awe-inspiring.This movie can be hard to find, but if you do, you have a winner..
On the big screen this film makes a fantastic impact and every effort should be made to see the original wide screen version in this way.
As for how the horses were handled, not one was injured-a feat you'll scarcely believe after having seen the charge.
One of the best charges (horse) seen..
I have done horse charges for films before, this one is great.
The casting, acting and filming is very Australian in its personality and universally excellent.
The real stars to me however were the large number of wonderful horses and their individual riders, who together with the South Australian scenery, where it was shot, and which does wonderfully to replicate the Middle East bring this epic battle back to life.
The best release was a laser disc in the US and later a crappy DVD was released in Australia but this had the aspect ratio cut from 2.35 to 1.78 and is an insult to this great film.
this film portrays the spirit of a bread of men who have become a legend in there own right the spirit of anzacs.action,romance and true life heroes this film has some thing for most peoples taste.the acting is good and the cast do a excellent job.now available on dvd one to buy..
and the feeling to see, among so many war films, a special show.
The opening few minutes really get you excited, but the middle 5 hours (it seems like that) are an interminable length of poor acting, emphasized by a hell of a lot of sitting around talking about their feelings poorly, with a lot of poorly written dialog, then they go out and do something to no obvious end and occasionally shoot at someone.
And I want to emphasize again: Really well filmed when anything except the horsemen in camp, some amazing equipment (where do you get that many WW1 tanks?!?!) and of course if you like watching horses run around, man is this your cup of tea.
I've been watching war movies all my life.
I've seen a few in my time; 'Charge of the Light Brigade' comes to mind.
Its easily one of the finest if not THE finest cavalry charge I've ever seen on film.
The charge by itself would have been worth the price of the movie.
There is very little regret at war expressed in this film, and rightly so.
Its emphatically NOT an anti-war film as some commentators seem to want to make out.
In my opinion a superb war movie in every way..
Is it an anti-war film?
And that's why despite having a few decent battle scenes and an interesting setting it never really seems to catch your attention.The plot of the film is pretty basic.
The Aussie light horse is in Palestine fighting the Turks.
Most of the rest of the incidents, while generic war film tropes, work significantly better.
The big battle at the end of the film is the battle of Beersheba, the last successful cavalry charge.
A subject like this seems perfect for a gung-ho war film about the high point of the ANZAC cavalry forces to counter the anti-war approach of Gallipoli, but as I said before the film never really settles on what it wants to say.One nice thing about it is the relatively low amount of Pommy-bashing.
There is a bit of conflict with the obligatory stiff-necked and humorless British officer, but they also feature a scene where the British soldiers cheer the Aussies on to the embarrassment of the men who are looking for a fight.
Furthermore my favorite character in the film is a British intelligence officer.
He's every bit the cold and aloof officer you'd expect, but he's smarter than the rest and actually plays up the Aussie perceptions of him to good effect in one hilarious scene.
The rest of the characters are somewhat hard to distinguish so this man stands out the more.A few more minor problems with this film: the scenery which is supposed to be in Israel is really obviously southern Australia.
Certainly it's worth watching if you're interested in the time or just like war films or Aussie movies in general.
"Australia will be there" that song made for one of many,many fine scenes in an excellent film.
I loved Anthony Andrews character : The British Intel Officer with a German name and his scene out birdwatching with the Aussie Sgt where he deliberately drops the satchel containing a forged "loveletter".
I,also, loved the the previous scene where the nurse helped him in "creating" the letter.The look of satisfaction on the Intel officers faces when they knew they'd fooled the Turks was great.The ending charge was highlighted (for me) when the Brit General said " Their under the Guns".
No detail of equipment was overlooked in recreating the look of the Light Horse of the Great War, nor were any time-worn clichés from the previous fifty years of war movies.Few cinematic cavalry charges are better than the one at the end of this movie, but if you were hoping for history brought to life with the same depth and sensitivity as Peter Weir's "Gallipoli", this isn't that movie.The story focuses on a section of Light Horsemen: Dave, Scotty, Chiller and Tas played by Peter Phelps, Jon Blake, Tim McKenzie and John Walton.
Tony Bonner as their commanding officer, Colonel Bourchier, gives one of the film's best performances as a no-nonsense officer who has earned the respect of his men.When the script deals with the by-play between the troopers the movie has a believable tone, but when it tries to set the scene in historical terms, it gets trickier.Everybody from stiff-backed German officers to stiff upper-lipped British ones, deliver chunks of laborious exposition, much of it speculation about whether the Light Horse will charge or just dismount and crawl through the sand under intense fire.
A German officer, who makes the German officers in Errol Flynn's war movies appear as models of subtlety, comments on the Australians, "They are formidable soldiers but the British don't know how to use them".
The shots of the Light Horse on the move are impressive and the final charge is exciting, but there could be a little too much use of the zoom lens in "The Lighthorsemen".Our visual knowledge of historic events is shaped by images such as the black and white photography from the last half of the 19th Century followed by film of varying quality through the first half of the 20th Century.
Although filmmakers could claim they are bringing history to life in a modern and immediate way, I feel that a period film that uses the zoom extensively tends to distance itself from the look and feel of the times in which it is set.
There is no noticeable use of the zoom in John Ford's cavalry trilogy; films that effortlessly capture the period in which they are set.In World War 1, The Australian Light Horse and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles comprised the British Army's main mobile strike arm in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign.
Before tanks, these mounted troops were the British army's equivalent of the next war's Panzers, and Beersheba was their most spectacular Blitzkrieg.
The Australian Chauvel, commander of the ANZAC Mounted Division, wanted to break off to water the horses, but was ordered to attack.
In turn they killed or captured 2000 enemy as well as several artillery pieces and also captured 15 out of the 17 wells.The light horse battle at Beersheba was worthy of a film and the battle scenes focusing on the light horse charge was a highlight of the film.
The film also focused on intelligence that led to the Turks believing that an attack on Beersheba would only be a diversion.The film incorrectly had Chauvel offer to attack Beersheba, when the British were faced with withdrawal due to critical water supplies.The film tried to be realistic and portray the spirit of the Australian troops, especially as the film followed the successful ANZACS miniseries and many of the same actors were present.
Moments later he's astonished to see men riding their horses bareback -- both man and horse -- through the gentle surf.There are scenes of combat scattered throughout the plot and a final heroic cavalry charge.
I once applied for a job as an extra in a cavalry charge in a movie dealing with the pursuit of Pancho Villa in Mexico.