 Text extracted from
"News about ... Columbia Pictures" 13
March 1975. Photographs © family 1987. Images
protected by ©ybert@g tracking.
The
dapper, moustachioed, small-knit man sat astride his grey
horse, holding a stick in one hand and a plastic cup of
tea in the other.
He watched
intently as five hundred yelling Bashkai warriors,
hurling spears, firing arrows and scything the hot desert
air with curved swords, rushed down a dusty hill topped
by a picturesque, red sandstone castle, to do bloody
battle with another advancing army, also armed with the
same kind of weapons, but with the additional advantage
of rifles. Shots rang out and a dozen Bashkai fell,
mortally wounded. A voice shouted, "Cut cameras 1
and 2!" The dust cleared. The warriors grinned at
one another. The man on horseback smiled slightly and
took a gentle sip of tea. Another "take" was
"in the can" and he approved. 
The scene
was Morocco, just outside a small village called
Tifoultoute, the location for a spectacular film titled
"The Man Who Would Be King", and the man on the
grey horse was Captain Richard Drew-Smythe, army and
battle technical advisor to the movie company. Captain
"Dicky" Drew-Smythe was in his element.
Ex-Indian Army and Gurkha Battalion, expert on military
matters and battles, not to mention horses and mules, was
combining an essential and responsible job with enjoyment
and flair. Business and pleasure. And he was a happy man.
"I
love every minute of it," he said, as he dismounted
and strolled across to a tent for another cup of tea.
"I find the whole thing absolutely fascinating. Of
course, our band of warriors aren't exactly what you
might call Sandhurst ... but they're a good, enthusiastic
bunch and they're doing what's needed wonderfully
well."
Dicky
Drew-Smythe couldn't be more English if he donned a crown
and ermine-trimmed robe. He has that unmistakable,
slightly clipped accent denoting an ex-English Public
School, ex-Sandhurst, ex-British Army Officer; a
friendly, confident air and, what's more, even sports a
monocle from time to time. No doubt he also wears a
bowler and carries a brolly when out walking back home in
London's Chelsea. But the hot sun and desert sands of
Morocco (doubling for 1880s Kafiristan in the film) are
not Chelsea and here he wears cavalry-twill trousers,
check open-neck shirt and tasteful yellow pull-over.
He's your
typical British gent. He's a nice, amiable and amusing
British gent into the bargain, which all goes to help
when you're dealing, as he is, with such motion picture
luminaries as John Huston, Sean Connery and Michael
Caine, director and stars of John Foreman's production
"The Man Who Would Be King".
 Captain Drew-Smythe was born near Bristol,
Gloucestershire on July 23rd 1920 and educated at Clifton
College and Marlborough, two of England's most famous
Public Schools. He first became a student at the Royal
Veterinary College in Edinburgh then trained for the Army
at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, being
commissioned into the Indian Army in 1938.
He was
sent to the First Gurkha Regiment, in the North of the
Punjab, in the Himalayan foothills and was then posted to
a training batallion down in the valley 200 miles away.
Later came service on the Manipur Road and through Burma.
After suffering a mishap, he became a Staff Captain at
Agra but became bored with sitting behind an office desk
and subsequently joined the Army Remount Section, still
in India. Then it was back into Burma with an Advance
Field Remount Depot and three Field Remount Sections,
ending up at a large Remount Base at Imphal. The Remount
Section supplied all kinds of animal transport, ranging
from officers' chargers to transport donkeys, ponies and
mules.
Captain
Drew-Smythe is an official with the British Horse
Society, working for the Riding Establishments Act
Committee, as an Inspector of Riding Establishments and
Schools throughout the whole of Greater London and the
Home Counties which is how he came to be put in touch
with the executives of the film.
"I
came out to Morocco first with action director, Bob
Simmons, and an advance party to recce the area of the
battle between the Bashkai and Er-Heb Armies (the latter
commanded by Sean Connery, Michael Caine and Saeed
Jaffrey as an ex-Gurkha). We worked out a battle plan and
then I helped to re-write that portion of the script
which covered the battle. Apart from this battle, I'm
generally on hand to sort out all kinds of little
problems and queries that may crop up from day to day
such as appropriate words of command, army drill, general
battle routine, handling of weapons, the Indian market
and so on."
"There
was one particular problem we needed to solve ... what
sort of flower would Roxanne (Shakira Caine) give to
Dravot (Sean Connery) when she first meets him?  In other words, what sort of
flower would be applicable to Kafiristan at that period?
The answer, I think, would be either a marigold or a
jacaranda. I also organised the Grand March of Dravot's
Army through the valley. And I'm generally around to
clear up any little points that may arise."
Dicky
lives in Chelsea but he gets away whenever he can to his
small stud farm in West Wales where he has ponies and a
few dogs."It's a good life," he says, "but
now I've had a taste of the film business I hope to have
the opportunity of doing more advisory work like this in
the future if I get the chance. It's extremely
stimulating and rewarding." And, with that, Captain
Dicky Drew-Smythe went back to his horse ... and his tea
...
John
Foreman's production of John Huston's "The Man Who
Would Be King" stars Sean Connery, Michael Caine,
Christopher Plummer and Saeed Jaffrey. The Panavision
Colour Film is produced by John Foreman and directed by
John Huston from a screenplay by John Huston and Gladys
Hill, based on Rudyard Kipling's classic story. James
Arnett is Associate Producer and the Director of
Photography is Oswald Morris. The Royal Service Company
Production is for distribution by Columbia/Allied Artists
and is made entirely on location in Morocco. The
spectacular and colourful story tells of two tough,
shrewd and inseparable ex-British Army sergeants who, in
the 1880s, decide to make the hazardous journey from
India, through Afghanistan, to the wild and primitive
country of Kafiristan and there make their fortunes and
set themselves up as kings ...
 Service in Burma
& India - World War II
|
