FILM OF INDIA

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 148, 8 June 1935, Page 14

FILM OF INDIA

“Lives of a Bengal Lancer ’ The picked fighters of India’s most war-like tribes are the men who form the ranks of England’s famous Bengal Lancers, the redoubtable cavalry organisation, whose exploits and adventures are dramatised in Paramount’s great adventure-spectacle, “The Lives of a Bengal Lancer.” Many unique facts about these famous soldiers were recounted for the first time by Major G. 0. Bagley, attached to the Lancers during manoeuvres of 1912. ‘‘lt was easier for Frederick the Great to find his fabulous, seven-foot guards than for the British to rercruit the Bengal Lancers,” says Major Bagley. ‘•Suitable men for service in the Lancers are difficult to find because, on the whole, Indians are undersized and only a few frontier tribes are war-like. ‘‘The fierce northern tribes provide most of the recruits for the Lancers, and practically all recruiting is done among them. But it is necessary tp keep only one religion and one caste to a squadron. For example, in the three squadrons of Bengal Lancers each will differ as to caste and consequently not be on speaking terms with the other two. This is a political check on any squadron that might plot or prove mutinous. In such a case, the other two would be quick to tell on them.”

The average Lancer regiment consists of 450 natives and fifteen Englisn officers. In the picture, Gary Cooper, Franchot Tone, Richard Cromwell and Sir Guy standing play the parts or officers in the 41st. Bengal Lancers. Adapted from the novel by Francis Yeats-Brown, the picture shows the heroism, self-sacrifice and discipline which make it possible for a handful of men to govern a nation of three hundred million people.