The Lives of a Bengal Lancer

Much like "Scaramouche" is to the swashbuckler sub-genre, "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" is to the "men-on-a-mission" action/adventure sub-genre. While "Gunga Din" is regarded as the authority here, "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" takes almost the same plot, character archetypes and exotic locale and manages to create a fresh, fun adventure story. Maybe that is because this film was released four years before "Gunga Din"! Establishing the standard which "Gunga Din" would later mint in gold, "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" pits three soldiers of the British Empire against seemingly an entire army of bloodthirsty natives, led by the sadistic Mohammed Khan. Led by Gary Cooper's stoic soldier-of-fortune Lieutenant MacGregor, he and his two mates, wisecracking Lieutenant Forsythe and green rookie Lieutenant Stone end up captured by Khan, tortured, then forced to watch helplessly as Khan plans his secret attack on the unsuspecting British forces. Of course the trio escapes and manages to turn the tide in the crucial, climactic battle, doing so without any assistance from a courageous water boy. Joking aside, this film captures all of the action, adventure and intrigue that "Gunga Din" is famous for, and might even surpass that film because of its incredibly visceral action scenes, an extremely impressive climactic explosion, and a shockingly graphic torture scene. While not as funny and rousing as "Gunga Din", "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" still packs quite a punch.

As the film opens, MacGregor's men have just suffered another attack from Mohammed Khan, and he needs to call in two new recruits. The colonel's son, Lieutenant Stone, ends up being one of the men called, much to the dismay of everyone in camp, mostly because he has no field experience, let alone the perils of serving on the dangerous Indian frontier. The other recruit turns out to be wisecracking, flute playing Lieutenant Forsythe. Mac picks them both up at the train station and is definitely not happy about his new compatriots. In an art imitating life portrayal, Gary Cooper's Mac is the strong, stoic type. He likes his men to be like him, and immediately clashes with the more laid back Forsythe, and resents the rookie Stone getting such a significant responsibility. Over the course of the film however Mac begins to grow a fondness for his two new recruits. He sympathizes with Stone because he sees the way the Colonel treats him, like any other soldier, perhaps giving him even less attention. Forsythe too begins to grow on Mac, but not before he gets his comeuppance for being too laid back. After incessantly bothering Mac with his flute playing, Forsythe gets a huge scare when his music inadvertently charms a deadly king cobra. After letting him sweat it out for a moment, Mac shoots the snake, and laughs, knowing Forsythe will now think twice before letting out any more hot air.

The three men are now a tighter, more cohesive trio, a relationship which ultimately saves them as they are captured by Khan on their next scouting mission. Thrown into a dank prison cell, Khan subjects each man to sadistic torture, attempting to extract the rest of the army's location so that they can launch a sneak attack with their new gatling guns. Mac and Forsythe persevere (having burning bamboo shoots jammed under their fingernails!), despite Khan's warning "We have ways of making men talk!" (a catchphrase which would survive in film lore subsequently), however poor Stone cannot take the pain and gives up the army's location. After being returned to his cell, where Forsythe and Mac are passing the time betting on cockaroache races, and telling them what happened Mac and Forsythe know something needs to be done. After knocking out the guard Mac volunteers for the suicide sprint from their cell to a storage facility housing boxes and boxes of dynamite. With Forsythe drawing Khan's fire, Mac hopes to blow up the entire arsenal, except he gets pinned down by the gatling gun's spray of bullets. Stone who had been knocked cold, comes to and attempts to blow up the arsenal, but Mac pushes him out of the way at the last moment, saving his life in the process, but sacrificing his own. Khan's arsenal destroyed, the army easily defeats his remaining forces and Stone, Forsythe receive medals for their courage and valor, while Mac receives a posthumous honor as well. The theme of sacrifice, duty and honor is one that would be revisited in the more popular "Gunga Din", but for a film largely forgotten today, "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" is one that strikes many positive similarities to its more celebrated counterpart, and is definitely worth revisiting.