The Charge of the Light Brigade Page #3

What his Lordship said was that

champagne only would be drunk...

...in the mess tonight. What he said...

It is not porter, it is Moselle, my lord.

Apologize.

If I am in error...

Error? Don't quibble with me, sir. Beer.

I will not have beer drunk in my mess.

Come back, Nolan.

Nolan, you will not leave the mess. Dog!

Devil upstart.

Impertinent Indian dog devil.

As President of the Mess Committee,

what Cardigan would have me say is...

...you are guilty of disorderly behavior.

What you should consider in the future...

...is that the mess should be conducted

like a gentleman's table...

...not a common ale house

with black bottles.

That is an offensive thing to have to say...

...to have said, one officer to another,

in front of brother officers.

Do you not know that, unlike a farmer,

a gentleman decants his Moselle?

He doesn't drink it like beer.

If you cannot behave like a gentleman,

you are to leave the regiment.

Will you shake hands with me, sir?

- There is no quarrel between us.

- You will.

I will not, my lord.

- You flagrantly insult this officer.

- No insult is intended to this officer.

Shake hands, damn you.

You shall be arrested.

Why shall I be arrested?

I shall have you arrested.

You are arrested.

Go to your quarters, sir, and be arrested.

Have you seen the Times

this morning, Raglan?

I have seen the Times, Airey.

"Black bottle."

I'm very worried about the British army

when it gets into the newspapers.

Whatever Lord Cardigan does

is public news within an hour.

- It is unfitting.

- "Black bottle."

- What?

- What is shouted at him when he goes out?

Lt do bring the army up for snooks,

you know.

Vulgar things.

Shouldn't say these vulgar things

at him, Airey.

But what can we do?

Where are they going to

put that statue, Airey?

Lt can't stay there,

to be enjoyed by me alone.

They won't leave it there.

They don't know where to put it.

It's very much in my light

for paperwork, Airey.

I wish they'd take it away.

You and I are always of the custom,

when in difficulty, to ask ourselves...

...how the great Duke would have acted

and decided in similar circumstances.

We are. I am. I will.

He was surely right

that when there is danger...

...it is the persons with a stake in

the country, land, position, wealth...

...that are best able to able to defend it.

I am an old man, Airey...

...and I've only got one arm

to fight the war with.

It won't be enough.

Duberly says it's going to be war.

He says the Russians will fight...

...and the Prime Minister is faced

towards peace, but carried towards war.

Duberly says I can go with the army.

I can go, Duberly says, as a wife,

which I am. Isn't it exciting?

- William wants to go.

- Soldiers will.

"Answer me to what I ask you."

"Pour in sow's blood,

that hath eaten her nine farrow."

"Come, high or low.

"Thyself and office deftly show!"

"He knows thy thought.

"Hear his speech, but say thou nought.

"Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!

"Beware Macduff."

Lewis is arrested over the black bottle.

It is sure. He is under arrest.

- Nolan?

- It may be the end of his career.

- Mr. De Burgh, how do you do?

- Without you, sir.

Being under arrest, is it certainly

the finish of his career as a soldier?

Lt is serious.

It is a serious thing for an officer.

There's Lord Cardigan.

Late for the play. Going to the war.

Black bottles!

Shall we go and boo him?

- Black bottles!

- Sit still before I hit you, girl.

I'll form a picket. Come on, Henry.

Present me as a picket come to get

the black bottle from the horse's mouth.

What black bottle?

My wife, Mrs. Duberly.

She's been enquiring after Capt. Nolan.

Under arrest, that man.

I have placed him under arrest.

Indeed, my lord. On what crime?

Failing to behave like a gentleman

and turning the mess...

...into a disorderly house

with black bottles.

We must go, Clarissa.

I'll find out about Nolan.

Duberly never tells me anything.

Company, attention!

- Sergeant Major.

- Sir.

Is he shaping?

I would put him forward

as a good clean man.

- Could he take the trumpet?

- That will be a good step for him.

Good. Something for you, Sergeant Major.

Carry on polishing, men.

- Sergeant Major.

- Sir.

I want a report of any conversation

Capt. Nolan has with other officers.

You are to take note of whatever he

might say and bring the information to me.

- I shall spy, my lord?

- You shall.

My lord...

To be asked to take up the spy...

I am much distressed

to be asked such a thing, my lord.

After 20 years of coming up

from private trooper...

...and keeping off the pongelow...

...not a drop since corporal.

I shall inform Capt. Nolan.

I can hardly do other.

Sergeant Major, it is better that you take

a ball and put it in your own brain.

You are finished now,

as if you had not ever been made.

What a waste.

Your duties!

Main guard present and correct, sir.

Stable guard present and correct, sir.

Number 1 squadron,

present and correct, sir.

Straw foot, right foot.

Staff parade.

Ready, present for inspection, sir.

Is he drunk?

- Sergeant Major.

- Yes.

This is all according to the articles of war.

I was drunk at my post.

It is not my place to criticize.

But it will have a grave effect on

the noncommissioned officers...

... for it will show there is a slender thread.

One slip, and a soldier is deprived...

... of what has taken years

of steady effort to obtain.

- Permission to carry on, sir.

- Farriers, do your duty.

One...

...two...

...three...

...four...

...five...

...six...

...seven...

...eight...

...nine...

...ten...

...eleven...

- Stand still and be quiet!

...thirteen...

...fourteen...

Always one or two of your younger

tyro officers brings up or flops over.

Faints away like lily at bedtime.

The time should be past when such

treatment is inflicted on a British soldier.

They will not fight unless

they are flogged to it.

Would you ask that of them?

Would you ask they fight like fiends

of hell for money or ideas?

That would be unchristian.

...forty nine...

...fifty.

Punishment completed, sir.

Unfasten.

What will you do now, Sgt. Major?

I doubt if he'll have a pension now...

...and that worries me.

I shall continue in the service,

though no pension.

Shall you enlist as a private

in some other regiment...

...and hope to make your rank again?

I shall, sir.

I am too humbled to stay in the 11th.

It is humbling. I have had some humbling.

You can't avoid it.

There is no making without breaking.

- My lord, I must protest.

- Nolan, we don't flog officers.

- Am I still under arrest, my lord?

- You would prefer that you are released?

I do not wish to be released from arrest.

I wish for a court-martial...

...that I may state some things of how

you asked my fellow officers to spy on me.

You lie, sir. It is you who spy.

Are spying up against me.

You shirk your duties, sir.

I can hardly shirk my duties

if I am not under command, but arrested.

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