Forty Thousand Horsemen

Forty Thousand Horsemen (aka. 40,000 Horsemen) is a 1940 Australian war film directed by Charles Chauvel. The film tells the story of the Australian Light Horse cavalry which operated in the desert at the Sinai and Palestine Campaign during World War I. It follows the adventures of three rowdy heroes in fighting and romance. The film culminates at the Battle of Beersheba which is reputedly "the last successful cavalry charge in history". The film was clearly a propaganda weapon, to aid in recruitment and lift the pride of Australians at home during World War II.

Production

Filming commenced in 1938 on the Cronulla sand dunes, south of Sydney, with interiors shot in the Cinesound studios at Bondi. Joe Valli reprised his Scottish cariciture from Pat Hanna's Digger Shows.

Release

The film was a massive success at the box office, being seen by 287,000 in Sydney alone during a ten week run on first release.^[2] It was released in the USA by Sherman S. Krellberg for Monogram Pictures.

Cast

• Grant Taylor as Red Gallagher
• Betty Bryant as Juliette
• Pat Twohill as Larry
• Chips Rafferty as Jim
• Eric Reiman as Von Schiller
• Harvey Adams as Von Hausen
• Betty Bryant as Juliet Rouget
• Joe Valli as Scotty
• Albert C. Winn as Sheik Abu

References

• Murray, Scott; (ed.) (1994). Australian Cinema. St.Leonards, NSW.: Allen & Unwin/AFC. pp. 26–28. ISBN 1-86373-311-6. 
• Forty Thousand Horsemen at the NFSA
• Forty Thousand Horsemen at the Australian screen

External links

• Forty Thousand Horsemen at the Internet Movie Database
• NYT review, published: 15 August 1941