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the audience applauded

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

"Bengal Brigade" is a strange movie for two reasons in particular-- the casting as well as its championing British colonialism. As far as the casting goes, several Americans without even a hint of a British accent were cast (such as Rock Hudson and Arlene Dahl)...and Hudson seemed completely out of place here. By the 1950s, the British Empire was being split apart and colonialism was on its way out and India had already gained its independence...yet this American film is another 'Hizzuh and three cheers for the Empire' sort of picture they made in the 1930s. We are supposed to be rooting for the Brits in this one...though the Indians were fighting for self-determination, an admirable thing!The film begins with Captain Claybourne (Hudson) being court martialed unfairly. The problem was that the man in charge during battle was indecisive and suffering from anxiety...and Claybourne took command. Later, the C.O. lied to save his reputation and Claybourne was charged with disobeying and striking his C.O....and soon he's out of the British army. There's some stuff after this...but it's all unimportant until the great Sepoy Rebellion which breaks out soon thereafter (in 1857)...and the film actually did a very good job of explaining it...most other films set during this time don't bother explaining why many Indians revolted against British rule.Overall, a rather dull film that covers a lot of familiar material but which seems hopelessly out of date with changing times and attitudes.

Coming out a year after 20th Century Fox's King Of The Khyber Rifles, Bengal Brigade from Universal covered a whole lot of the same ground, but not as well. Bengal Brigade is a story of the Sepoy Rebellion in India during the 19th Century or at least a small portion of it seen from Rock Hudson's corner of India.When we meet Hudson he disobeys orders and leads a troop of men to rescue his own former company that was trapped and being cut to pieces by rebels. For that he gets a court martial and he resigns. That also has the effect of breaking his engagement to Arlene Dahl the daughter of his commander Torin Thatcher. Another officer Dan O'Herlihy who lied about some key points at Hudson's court martial is looking to catch Dahl on the rebound.After leaving the army Hudson starts hearing bits and pieces about a mutiny among the native Sepoy troops. But it comes fast and furious and Hudson along with the rest of the British are soon fighting for their lives.I don't think Bengal Brigade would do too well if it were shown in India today. The Sepoy Rebellion in their history goes down as the first strike for independence from the British Raj. The troops led by Michael Ansara who stay loyal to Hudson because of his identification with them would be regarded in American terms as Uncle Toms today.Ursula Thiess plays a strange role as a Hindu dancer who's got a big old crush on Hudson. It's her reason for betraying her own people and aiding him and the British.King Of The Khyber Rifles was a far better film than Bengal Brigade.

The fifties was undeniably the golden age of Hollywood. Not only are the fifties unsurpassed in cinematic splendor, it is also a decade that would unsurpassed in three dimensional characters for four decades.This is cinematic splendor and old fashioned British pride. What's important to note is that the "British pride" is not the Hollywood establishment that liars make it out to be.Take this film, for instance. It is a lavish portrayal of British officers decked out without a taint, in colonial India, "helping" the poor people against oppressive native leaders.And this isn't as far from the truth as the hypocrites of the next four decades would have you believe. The white man has always been the "bad guy" in Hollywood movies. The exceptions, even before 1960, still amount to less than 5%.Except for the horrendous "Arrowhead", almost every Western ever made depicts the native Americans as mostly people who try to get along, who have dignity, and the truly evil people are unscrupulous white men.Here, we have as even a number as one can find. The women are all honorable. About one third of the British are bad apples, about one third of the Indians. One third of the British are heroic, and so are one third of the Indians.All this said, it is humorous to see the British splendor, and you almost expect Monty Python to show Rock Hudson needing to use a latrine. The uppity up British are just so impeccable.They do have character, though. More on the level of two dimension than one or three. This has a big budget look, and is very escapist, no matter what nationality you are.

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