The Lighthorsemen

Pat Holscher · Mon Apr 16, 2001 9:37 am

A movie could be said to have obtained cult status, I suppose, when it becomes extremely popular with a select group of viewers. If that definition is accurate, "The Lighthorsemen" could be said to be a cult movie, as it is a very popular film with those who have an interest in cavalry. I like a lot myself.

The basic plot of the movie is fairly typical, having elements found in many military films. A young soldier is assigned to a unit of tough, hard-bitten veterans. While a promising and admirable character, he finds that he has a tough time confronting the necessity of killing in combat. This plot is set in the War in the Desert in WWI, and the soldiers are all members of the Australian Light Horse. A secondary plot, and important background for everything which occurs in the movie, surrounds the decision of the Commonwealth command to attack the Turkish held town of Beerseeba.

While the plot is a basic one (a guy could pick up elements of it in such films as Big Red One, Platoon, or any other number of films) it is very well executed. It moves well, and is compelling. Additionally, the secondary plot surrounding the decision to attack Beersheeba, and the attack itself, is very interesting. The scene depicting the attack itself is hair-raising.

If there is a danger to a film like this it is that it is so good, that to a person such as myself who doesn?t know much about this battle, the battle comes to be defined by the film. Almost everything I think I know about this battle comes from this movie, leaving me open, I suspect, to a lot of misimpressions.

All in all, it is excellent. I highly recommend it.

"The Lighthorsemen" Australian, 1987.

Pat

Texian · Tue Nov 19, 2002 2:35 pm

About a year ago I read an eyewitness account that very much supported the film version of the attack on Beersheeba. I'll try to dig it up.

That said, I'm not sure if the film gives enough credit to the flying light artillery which took out key Turkish gun positions.

Grant · Wed Dec 11, 2002 4:50 pm

To Pat: Re "The Lighthorsemen", I helped persuade the now defunct US laser disc firm of Lumivision, of Denver, Colorado, to go for the original full length 131 minute Australian cut of this film, when they put it out in a superb two disc album, which also included the climax of the 1940 Charles Chauvel "40,000 Horsemen" black & white film which also covered this charge, as well as other actions, but had a largely fictional story. Apart from these laser discs the film has never been shown theatrically in the USA or Canada except in the cut version, which director Simon Wincer agreed to with RKO, to obtain intitial financing. They also got world-wide distribution rights. It IS out on full length widescreen DVD in Australia (Region 4 PAL) I have a copy which can played on my code free player as NTSC. With one exception, Ian Jones script was entirely accurate & truthful. However an American writer in touch with me claims Meinerthagen, the intelligence officer played in the film by Anthony Andrews falsified much of his career, & his diaries used by Jones are suspect. The "lost knapsack" ruse which played such an important part in hoodwinking the enemy into thinking the Beersheba attack was only a feint, claimed by Meinertzhagen, was in fact he says the work of some four other officers with Meinertzhagen involved. There has been much discussion about the actual charge on the Australian Lighthorse Association Forum. <www.lighthorse.org.au> I correspond with Simon Wincer, whose horse movies are well worth watching by anyone interested in horses. I'm also still trying to trace a "lost" film Down Under which had one of three parts devoted to WWI poet "Gerardy's" Lighthorse character "Lofty Lane". We found the actual Aussie veteran (later of Vietnam) who played the part, but so far the film hasn't turned up. If ever found it would come in between "40,000 Horsemen" in 1940, having been filmed in 1972, & "The Lighthorsemen" of 1987! It's a shame so many have only seen the 115 minute US cut of this great film, the missing 15 minutes make all the difference! Apart from Mario Millo's music, Dean Semler's cinematography (Dances with Wolves too!) & a great cast, sadly the star Jon Blake was paralyzed & turned into a quadriplegic bed-ridden vegetable after being involved in a car crash going home on the last day of filming! A massive grant to look after him for life, has been whittled almost dangerously away by myriad lawyers & government officials getting into the act. He could well have been another world class star. So this fine film has a dark downside one cannot escape or forget! Sincerely, Grant.

John L. Matthew

Pat Holscher · Wed Dec 11, 2002 10:34 pm

Grant, very interesting information. I had no idea that there were seperate U.S. and Australian versions. I wish the Australian version was available here. What is missing from the U.S. version.

I am very sorry to learn of the terrible tragedy which occured to the lead actor. Simply awful.

On Meinerthagen, based upon some material I recently read about him, it would seem that he was one of those historical figures who were given to creating all sorts of myths about themselves. This is not to say that he was not very interesting. He was very eccentric, and quite a personage. He was, however, given to creating his own myth, it would seem. It has recently developed that some bird samples in a museum in the UK, which Meinerthagen had provided, were apparently stolen by him. He was an expert in birds, but apparently not restrained in his methods. This would seem to have been due to high eccentricity, as opposed to anyting else.

Again, very interesting material. Thanks.

Pat

Grant · Thu Dec 12, 2002 4:45 pm

To Pat: G'Day! One clue in the titles of the US cut of "The Lighthorsemen" to missing scenes involves the actress'es name listed who played Dave's mother. This scene after the initial horse round-up & train sequence opening showed Dave eating at home with his parents. She wordlessly looks to the Father knowing her second son, Dave, wants to enlist. His brother has already been killed in action. The father says "If he wants to go we can't stop him". Another vital scene cut is when the unit moves out & an Arab spy beside a building watches them leave, then presumably hares off into the desert. He could be one of the group they later find on patrol when their mate gets shot in the leg & has to put his horse down. This leads to the later hospital scene & the letter from his girl. Another cut is when prior again to the unit moving out for the final stunt, Taz is trying to write a letter home to his wife. Chiller bugs him not meaning to & walks away. A little later on the move, Taz can't get the postal orderly to accept his letter & his mate Chiller steps up & takes it, thus regaining Taz's approval. I'm pretty sure the US 115 minute cut version cleaned up the final charge somewhat, since in the full length 131 minute widescreen Aussie original, there may well be some rather more grim had-to-hand scenes as they reach the Turkish trenches. However one would have to run both versions side by side on two tv screens & check the exact cuts made! I personally advocate the purchase of a code free DVD player & importing the Aussie DVD from Magna Pacific Down Under (or the ScreenSound people who also carry it).(My best is a CONIA, but "Google" on the Internet turns up two US suppliers of a MALATA, which has a unique ability to size the image to one's tv. So if a DVD doesn't properly show a letterboxed DVD as such, it can be "tweaked" to do so!) (I first bought a SAMPO which fouled up the way my Aussie DVD played on screen!) Interestingly enough, George Lucas's "Young Indiana Jones" tv series episodes have one out on US video directed by Simon Wincer -"Daredevil's of the Desert" - where he actually cannibalizes the climax of his own film! In this Young Indy armed with a pair of wire cutters, disarms the explosive charges set round the wells at Beersheba & indulges in a tremendous fist fight with the German demolition officer. After this young American fictionally saves the day at Beersheba, in comes the Lighthorse as per the earlier epic film! Seems Lucas wanted to have a US hero involved when none were anything to do whatsoever with that Palestine campaign in WWI! (Though US war correspondent Lowell Thomas was responsible for the entire Lawrence of Arabia legend gaining worldwide attention!) (Catherine Zeta Jones, before marrying Michael Douglas plays a spy involved with Young Indy too!) Ironically in the closing credit crawl, John Blake is listed as having performed the horse fall just before his character on the ground finds the buried cables leading to the explosives board in the building. But this fall was done by one of the lead stuntmen on the earlier film, who was also one of four horse masters involved! I hope you eventually get to see the film as shot! Sincerely, Grant

John L. Matthew

Pat Holscher · Thu Dec 12, 2002 9:51 pm

John, thanks for the detailed explanation as to the differences between the two. Funny how that would occur. I can think of no good reason for shortening the version released in the U.S.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Grant
 Interestingly enough, George Lucas's "Young Indiana Jones" tv series episodes have one out on US video directed by Simon Wincer -"Daredevil's of the Desert" - where he actually cannibalizes the climax of his own film! In this Young Indy armed with a pair of wire cutters, disarms the explosive charges set round the wells at Beersheba & indulges in a tremendous fist fight with the German demolition officer. After this young American fictionally saves the day at Beersheba, in comes the Lighthorse as per the earlier epic film! Seems Lucas wanted to have a US hero involved when none were anything to do whatsoever with that Palestine campaign in WWI!

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Grant
 (Though US war correspondent Lowell Thomas was responsible for the entire Lawrence of Arabia legend gaining worldwide attention!) (Catherine Zeta Jones, before marrying Michael Douglas plays a spy involved with Young Indy too!) Ironically in the closing credit crawl, John Blake is listed as having performed the horse fall just before his character on the ground finds the buried cables leading to the explosives board in the building. But this fall was done by one of the lead stuntmen on the earlier film, who was also one of four horse masters involved! I hope you eventually get to see the film as shot! Sincerely, Grant

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

This gives me an opening to mention once again Jeremy Wilson's biography, Lawerence of Arabia. I reviewed it here quite a while ago, but the original review is probably long since archived, and was on one of the previous editions of the forum, so may be long gone. Anyway, I highly enjoyed Mr. Wilson's book. I've noted the on-line version, which is available, although only in part, at the author's website. The review of that is here:

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I thought I was probably the only one who remembered the Young Indiana Jones series. It may sound strange to those not familiar with the original version of that series here, but it was actually an attempt to work a popular movie character into a bunch of historic events to act as a history lesson to young people. It was done twice, with the first set of episodes actually quite well done, and the second being pretty worthless. The first set included the Mexican Revolution, T. E. Lawrence, WWI in Europe, Africa and Italy, and the Russian Revolution. It's a shame it didn't work out better, as it was much better than most stuff that TV typically runs.

Pat