"Guards! Guards! Call out the Guards!" And this could only mean the Queen's Guards and the English look to them in times of military emergency. With their ceremonial uniform of Buckingham red with that unlikely shako supposedly made of bear skin; with their mounted units wearing polished breastplates during full dress parades, they are world famous as tourist attractions. Little do people know that these are the cream of the elite of the British military corps. If I am not mistaken, their members are selected from the various services. Thus, they are commandos, paratroopers, tank men, intelligence specialists, etc.
As a little boy, I was fully taken in by the ceremonial parade at the end of the movie: "Escort to the colors! Forward!" Somehow when the goosestep is done by The Guards, it doesn't seem sinister. And the intricate but highly dignified dressage executed by the commander of the mounted unit is admirable.
The military action is in the Middle East in connection with the Suez Canal crisis in 1956. Egypt then took full control of the canal and the British and French felt that their interests were threatened.
There is a touching scene near the end during a ceremonial parade with the Queen in attendance. A semi-paralyzed veteran has an apartment overlooking the square (Trafalgar?). He's bedridden but he manages to put on his military uniform. There is a series of bars on the ceiling of his apartment and with a hook or a cane, he manages to get a hold of them and he painfully and laboriously locomotes himself to the window to get a view of The Guards as they are honored by the Queen.
