Black Watch Shows John Ford, McLaglen Shining in Larval Stage

Posted by Lee Hopkins on Nov 15th 2017

This film is unfairly dismissed by effete critics
who cannot grasp the mastery of both Ford and
McLaglen for the male bonding and sardonic humor
of military life.
McLaglen was the real thing, son of an Anglican
Bishop, who lied about his age to service as one
of the Life Guards at Windsor Castle, then in WWI
as Provost Marshal of Baghdad in the Mesopo-
tamian campaign. In his voice, demeanor and ability to sit a horse as if man and animal were
one like a centaur, you get the authentic image
of the old British Army between the wars.
It was a logical evolution for both men from this
to The Lost Patrol, and Ford's later wonderful
Cavalry Trilogy.
To say that Black Watch was the inspiration for the insipid King of the Khyber Rifles with Tyrone
Power is to contrast a tall cooler topped with
an umbrella by the Beverly Hills pool with a real
soldier's pint of ale.