The Charge of the Light Brigade (Take Two)

You might come away from Tony Richardson's The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) asking a lot of questions in wonderment. For example:

What role did horses play in society then, and how about now, and in between, and in future, and in the way back when? How and why has this changed over time, and how may it still? What's your response to horses now, by George?

Plug in all sorts of facets, dimensions or variables for the same question:

Trains? 
Ships? 
War?
Artillery? 
Rifles?
Tactics?
Flags?
Armies?
Laws? 
Volunteers vs. the draft?
Men and women?
Cuisine? 
Music?
Alcohol?
Romance?
Sex?
Smoking?
Private vs. Public "Spheres?"
Family?
Fashions?
Architecture?
Commerce?
Telecommunications? 

The Crimean War (1853-1856), sandwiched between the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) and the American Civil War (1861-1865), displays an interesting link along the "path of progress" that culminates in today's best of all possible worlds . . . What? What? It must be the best now because we're living proof of it!

There's also the sheer entertainment value of catching certain changes in language then, now and in between across and within cultures, societies and regions. The Charles Wood-John Osborne script covers it all -- revealing certain attitudes, mores and customs depending on geography, class, etcetera. Here are two asynchronous snippets of interior monologue, a form of expression that's even more revealing than open dialogue or conversation:

A. Lord Cardigan: "I do not propose to recount my life in any detail, what is what. No damn business of anyone, what is what. I am Lord Cardigan, that is what!"

B. Captain Nolan: "There is no place happier than a cavalry mess. If one is a stupid, inconsiderate and lazy man, one can fit as a round peg in a snug round hole. At times, I am so pent up with their languour that I could scruff hold of any two of them and bang their noddles together until their doodles drop off!"

Today's Rune: Signals.