Tony Richardson (Tom Jones) directed this icy examination of the doomed charge made legendary by Tennyson's poem. The film takes place in 1854, 39 years after Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo. Lord Cardigan (Trevor Howard) and a group of aristocratic British soldiers desire to seek military glory. Cardigan wants to lead an army to help protect the Ottoman Empire from Russian invaders but he gets into an argument about it with Captain Lewis Nolan (David Hemmings), recently returned from India. But when England declares war, the two set aside their differences and set sail for Turkey. In Crimea, the British army suffers through hunger and disease, but they win a victory over the Russians. But now the British become complacent and careless. As the Battle of Balaklava begins, confused orders and incompetence sends Cardigan's Light Brigade into the wrong valley, heading straight for the Russian cannons.
