Soldiers Three (film)
| Soldiers Three | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Tay Garnett |
| Produced by | Pando S. Berman |
| Written by |
Malcolm Stuart Boylan Marguerite Roberts Tom Reed |
| Based on | short story collection by Rudyard Kipling |
| Starring |
Stewart Granger Walter Pidgeon David Niven Robert Newton |
| Music by | Adolph Deutsch |
| Cinematography | William C. Mellor |
| Edited by | Robert Kern |
|
Production
company |
|
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
|
Release date
|
April 1951 |
|
Running time
|
92 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,429,000 |
| Box office | $2,237,000 |
Soldiers Three is a 1951 film based upon an element of several short stories by Rudyard Kipling featuring the same trio of British soldiers, and starring Stewart Granger, Walter Pidgeon, and David Niven. The movie was directed by Tay Garnett .
London, 1918: In a gentlemen's club, General Brunswick regales junior officers celebrating a British advance in France with the tale of how he won his brigade command during his service in India, not with gallantry under fire but under circumstances that warranted a court martial.
As the longtime colonel of 1st Battalion, the Rutlandshire Regiment, an infantry unit, Brunswick had a trusted aide, Capt. Pindenny, and the service of three able but not always reliable privates, Ackroyd, Malloy and Sykes, who for his eighteen years as commander were "the Queen's hard bargain," sneaking off to drink, fight and gamble whenever they could. Against their wishes, one man must be elevated to sergeant to separate them and Ackroyd is the unhappy choice. Sent from their garrison at Hyderalipore to provide a show of force at a reported disturbance in Mirzabad, Brunswick and his battalion are recalled and placed under rival Colonel Groat of the 28th Hussars and his officious adjutant, Major Mercer.
A rift develops between the three friends after Ackroyd's promotion, but it is mended after he saves Sykes' life. Sykes and Malloy become part of a small force under Mercer and Pindenny to an abandoned fort at Imara as a sacrificial lure to entrap the insurgent forces of Manik Rao. Ackroyd is left behind and apparently becomes a deserter. Groat separates his command and Brunswick uses it as an opportunity to ignore Groat's order to return to his garrison post and take his battalion to Imara.
At Imara the fort is attacked by Manik Rao and overrun, with the British survivors taking refuge in its powder house. Manik Rao threatens to blow them up if they do not surrender. Ackroyd enters the fort in disguise, slays Manik Rao, and saves the lives of the trapped British troops. Brunswick expects to be court-martialed but finds he was goaded by Groat into acting as he did to avoid officially starting a war. Groat "suggests" that Brunswick led his command in pursuit of the deserter Ackroyd and Brunswick is promoted instead. Ackroyd's "punishment" for desertion, on the other hand, is to be demoted back to private as he wished.
In 1934, it was announced that Gaumont British would make a film based on Soldiers Three. A film crew was sent to India under Geoffrey Barkas to shoot second unit footage. A script had been written based on "The Courting of Dinah Shadd" and Lung Tung Pen" and involve a climax especially written by Kipling involving a battle at the Khyber Pass. The battle was shot with army cooperation.
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