Tonight's Movie: The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

Gary Cooper stars in the classic adventure film THE LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER (1935), recently released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.

THE LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER was one of a trio of Cooper films released by Kino Lorber this spring, along with the previously reviewed THE GENERAL DIED AT DAWN (1936) and BEAU GESTE (1939), to be reviewed here at a future date.

THE LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER begins in the beautiful Alabama Hills outside Lone Pine, standing in for India. In the 2014 edition of LONE PINE IN THE MOVIES, film historian Ed Hulse noted that BENGAL LANCER was the first film to use the Alabama Hills as India, and the success of the location shooting led to numerous films of its type being filmed there, including GUNGA DIN (1939) and KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES (1953).

Eastern California historian Chris Langley, a founder of the Lone Pine Film Festival, wrote a few years ago that second-unit production began in the Hills in 1931 but problems including a shortage of film stock meant that production did not resume until 1934.

Cooper plays Scotch-Canadian Lt. Alan McGregor, a veteran of India's northwest frontier. He takes a pair of new arrivals under his wing, Lt. John Forsythe (Franchot Tone) and Lt. Donald Stone (John Cromwell).

In a storyline reminiscent of John Ford's later Cavalry Western RIO GRANDE (1950), Lt. Stone is the son of the unit's crusty commanding officer, Col. Stone (Sir Guy Standing); father and son have been separated for most of Donald's life.

Donald had been overjoyed to think his father had summoned him to India to join him serving in the family military tradition, only to be crushed when he learns his father had nothing to do with his assignment. Col. Stone keeps his feelings toward his son hidden and treats him as formally as any other officer.

A series of misadventures leads to young Donald being kidnapped due to the machinations of a spy (Kathleen Burke), and he's given over to the vengeful rebel leader Mohammed Khan (Douglas Dumbrille). McGregor and Forsythe go AWOL to save Donald and the trio end up imprisoned by Khan, leading up to a climactic battle.

LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER is rather similar to the later GUNGA DIN, but I liked it much more; it has better performances -- Cary Grant's mugging in GUNGA DIN is tiresome -- and while the film has some disturbing moments regarding torture, on the whole it's not as dark as GUNGA DIN.

Cooper is excellent as the rebellious McGregor, who time and again disobeys orders or lets his commanding officer have a piece of his mind, but gets away with it because he's also an outstanding soldier. Cooper's McGregor has a wonderful bantering relationship with Tone's Forsythe, who teases McGregor about playing nanny to young Donald. A scene where McGregor and Forsythe each discover the other has sneaked off to try to locate the AWOL Donald is delightful.

Franchot Tone proves once more that he makes every film he's in better; he comes close to stealing the movie with his relaxed and easy-going, yet charismatic, performance as Forsythe. Tone was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for another of his films released that year, MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935). While he had a fine career spanning three dozen years, I've always been a bit mystified that he never broke out to become an even bigger star, especially when watching a performance such as the one he gives here.

Standing is superb in a layered performance as the father who would like to reach out toward his son but doesn't quite know how. There's a marvelous scene where he tries to talk to McGregor and Forsythe about the young man but can't get the words out, instead making small talk. It's the kind of work which would have been worthy of a Best Supporting Oscar nomination, although he didn't receive one. The film did receive a few nominations, including picture and director, and won for Best Assistant Director, a category which was phased out in the late '30s.

Cromwell isn't especially appealing as the troubled young Donald but is adequate in the role. The cast also includes the always-wonderful Sir C. Aubrey Smith as another senior officer in the unit. Also on hand are Monte Blue, Akim Tamiroff, J. Carrol Naish, Colin Tapley, and Lumsden Hare. Bit roles are filled by familiar actors including Mischa Auer, Leonid Kinskey, and James Bell.

Except for those previously mentioned brief disturbing moments, THE LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER is a rousing 109-minute adventure. It was directed by Henry Hathaway and filmed by Charles Lang. The film's numerous screenwriters were inspired by the book by Francis Yeats-Brown.

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray picture, from a new 4K master, looks quite good, and the sound is also excellent. The disc includes the trailer, an additional half-dozen trailers for films available from Kino Lorber, and a new audio commentary by Eddy Von Mueller.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.