40,000 Horsemen
Classic Australian war movie and propaganda piece, aimed at supporting the World War II effort. Follows three heroes in the Australian Light Horse cavalry, who fight during the First World War's Sinai and Palestine Campaign. Culminates at the Battle of Beersheba, supposedly "the last successful cavalry charge in history".
The Sydney Morning Herald said on release: "There have been some good Australian films before this one, but Forty Thousand Horsemen has every right to be regarded as the first really great Australian picture."
Director Chauvel was the nephew of Sir Harry Chauvel, commander of the Australian Light Horse. The film was shot in Cronulla, with money raised independently and with the assistance of Universal Pictures Australia and Hoyts Australia.
- Director:
- Charles Chauvel ('Uncivilised', 'In the Wake of the Bounty', 'The Moth of Moonbi')
- Writer:
- Elsa ChauvelCharles ChauvelE.V. Timms
- Cast:
- Grant TaylorBetty BryantChips RaffertyPat TwohillJoe Valli
Reviews & comments
Sydney Morning Herald
pressNever before has an Australian producer-director attempted a mass spectacle on this scale... The sequence representing the famous charge of the Australian Light Horse at Beersheba is as dynamic in its dramatic realism and sustained battle
action as any imaginitive Hollywood or English producer could have made it... Most important of all is the laconic note of Australian casualness and humour running through the narrative.
Sydney Morning Herald
pressNever before has an Australian producer-director attempted a mass spectacle on this scale... The sequence representing the famous charge of the Australian Light Horse at Beersheba is as dynamic in its dramatic realism and sustained battle
action as any imaginitive Hollywood or English producer could have made it... Most important of all is the laconic note of Australian casualness and humour running through the narrative.
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