Soldiers Three (film)

Soldiers Three
Directed by Tay Garnett
Written by Malcolm Stuart Boylan
Marguerite Roberts
Tom Reed
Based on novel 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
MGM
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
 April 1951
Running time
 92 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $1,429,000[1]
Box office $2,237,000[1]

Soldiers Three is a 1951 film based upon a novel by Rudyard Kipling and starring Stewart Granger, Walter Pidgeon, and David Niven. [2] The movie was directed by Tay Garnett .

Plot

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.

Cast

Reception

According to MGM records the movie earned $1,016,000 in the US and Canada and $1,221,000 overseas, making a profit of $23,000.[1]

It recorded admissions of 1,148,803 in France.[3]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 'The Eddie Mannix Ledger’, Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study, Los Angeles
  2. ↑ http://allmovie.com/work/soldiers-three-110887
  3. ↑ Box office information for Stewart Granger films in France at Box Office Story

External links