Britain's Most Loved and Best Comedy Double Act

The Magnificent Two Press Pack - Page 2




THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT (COMEDY) BRIGADE

Over the brow of a hill and down a steep grassy slope thundered . . . The light comedy brigade. Yelling their heads off. Girls . . . All girls. And beautiful girls, too. Every one handpicked by film producer Hugh Stewart and director Cliff Owen.

Cameras to right of them, cameras to left of them, cameras in front of them and cameras above them. For a helicopter had been chartered to shoot from the air in this scene for the Morecambe and Wise comedy ''WHAT HAPPENED AT CAMPO GRANDE?"

All the girls wore army uniforms. They were the "cavalry" of a South American Republic Rebel Army. In action.

Guns were blazing, land mines were blasting . . . And Cliff Owen roaring his directions through a loud-hailer.

Quite an unusual event for the usually peaceful Buckingham¬shire countryside.

And, according to director Cliff Owen, there's more than meets the eye in organising a charge of the light comedy brigade.

It began with a request to a London film casting agency's office.

Wanted: scores of girls: must be pretty, have good figures, be able to ride a horse, act a little, and fire a rifle.

Britain, it seems, has hundreds of such girls. Hugh Stewart and Cliff Owen picked the prettiest and most proficient riders.

Stunt director Tex Fuller put the light comedy brigade through their paces during a series of rehearsals. It is more difficult to charge down a hill full-tilt on a horse with land mines exploding all around than might be supposed. Horses as well as beautiful girls can react temperamentally to explosions.

Each land mine was carefully sited and each explosion timed to a fraction of a second to allow the light comedy brigade to sweep past the blasts unscathed.

But none of this meticulous timing is apparent in the sequence to be seen in "WHAT HAPPENED AT CAMPO GRANDE?"


© Rank Organisation 2008
<< Previous Page
Next Page >>

You may also like:

The Magnificent Two
This was the last of the Rank films promised to Eric & Ern, and was probably the worst of the bunch.

Morecambe and Wise Press Packs
As feature films are released, the press are given packs that introduce them to the film. View the press packs here.