“ The Lives of a Bengal Lancer ” Coming Soon

Manawatu Times, Volume 60, Issue 100, 1 May 1935, Page 5

“ The Lives of a Bengal Lancer ” Coming Soon

SPLENDID PRODUCTION IS FILMED IN REAL LOCALE

(Regent: Coming Shortly.)

Rhapsodised in scores of books and lust|y soldier songs, the steep, carved sides of India’s historic Kyber Pass have at last been used as motion picture background. “The Lives of a Bengal Lancer” has materialised from the interesting print of Francis YeatsBrown’s adventurous novel. The elaborate Paramount film spectacle has Gary Cooper, Pranchot Tone, Richard Cromwell, Sir Guy Standing, C. Aubrey Smith, Monte Blue and Kathleen Burke in important roles.

For more than three months the Paramount studios echoed to the plaintiv* and eerio whine of reeds, of cobra charmers, and tho boom of tho vocal discords of innumerable Pathans, Afghans, Sikhs and Punjabi-Mohamme dans while the film was in production To capture tho turbulent and mystic Indian atmosphere, Paramount severa' years ago, sent a largo expedition inte the very heart of Bengal and, as a result, tens of thousands of feet were re ttarned to Hollywood. This extraordinary “footage” reveals the activities of the Bengal Lancers, the mixednative troop officered by British, al peace and in war, as well as tho liver and working secrets of several deserl tribes.

With great difficulty, the expedition entered tho Khyber Pass country, and through a stroke of luck, managed tf photograph one of the most picturesque of all human occupations—the manufacture by hand of the celebrated ■Khyber rifles. This rifle, called in India a Jezain, has a long, pole-liko barrel. One village may specialise in the making of barrels, another in stocks, and still others in ammunition, bolts, and -firing-pins. Despite tho archaic methods of manufacture, tho guns, when assembled, are highly effective weapons in the hands of a keen-eyed desert sniper. These atmospheric sidelights feature early scenes of tho Paramount production of ‘‘The Lives of a Bengal Lancer.” Tho film tells the story of three inseparable comrades of the British fighting unit: a stalwart campaigner, a reckless romanticist, and a young novice and shows how their courage an' loyalty saves au empire.