| Balaclava | |
| Director: | Maurice Elvey Milton Rosmer |
| Producer: | Michael Balcon |
| Starring: | Cyril McLaglen Benita Hume Alf Goddard Miles Mander |
| Music: | Louis Levy |
| Cinematography: | Percy Strong James Wilson |
| Editing: | Ian Dalrymple |
| Studio: | Gainsborough Pictures |
| Distributor: | Woolf & Freedman Film Service |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | Silent Version (1928) Sound Version (1930) (English Intertitles) |
Balaclava is a 1928 British silent and sound war film directed by Maurice Elvey and Milton Rosmer and starring Cyril McLaglen, Benita Hume, Alf Goddard, Harold Huth, and Wally Patch.[1] It was made by Gainsborough Pictures with David Lean working as a production assistant. The charge sequences were filmed on the Long Valley in Aldershot in Hampshire. Although the sound version had no audible dialogue, it featured a synchronized musical score with sound effects. The sound version was released in the United States under the title Jaws Of Hell.
A British army officer is cashiered, and re-enlists as a private to take part in the Crimean War. He succeeds in capturing a top Russian spy. The film climaxes with the Charge of the Light Brigade.[2]
Portions of Balaclava were reshot under the direction of Milton Rosmer with dialogue written by Robert Stevenson and it was re-released as a sound film which featured a synchronized musical soundtrack with sound effects in April of 1930.[3] [4]