Conduct Unbecoming

Certainly excellent acting by an excellent cast. Its only boring if you don't understand the time, place and principles. This is hard to do in the 21st century. Honor, loyalty and comradeship are rare commodities today, not really highly valued or understood. That makes this film all the more worth watching and pondering. To be a common man in a position of such infallibility is beyond imagination today, but such were the colonial British in the Victorian era. I find this story absolutely fascinating and Stacy Keatch's performance as the only American in the film one of his best. Acting, writing, directing and beautiful color, I loved it. I'm grateful its finally on DVD.

It could be treated as a negligeable trifle of a soldier violating the finest lady of the place, but etiquette demands the matter to be court martialled with both a prosecutor and defense, and as the proceedings go on, everyone desiring to get the problem brushed off as quickly as possible, strange facts turn up to make it a very complicated matter indeed. The lady in question is found to have been lying, a widow of a renowned hero of the regiment, and the question must arise, why she was lying. Who was she protecting? The answer is only the regiment, for the sake of the honour of her deceased husband, killed in battle. It's an intricate court case parading all the best British actors at the time, Trevor Howard, Richard Attenborough, Christopher Plummer, Michael York, Susannah York, Stacy Keach, it's an excellent play brilliantly performed under the expert direction of Michael Anderson, and if you find it dull and boring you will find it surprising by the unexpected turns it takes. Almost all the actors make some of their best performances ever, especially Michael York and Stacy Keach, and you will inevitably be hanging in the end with the unanswerable question: what happens then?

Based on play ,and it shows, a little talky, the movie can boast the creme de la creme of British actors: Attenborough, Howard, Plummer,both York et al and this is the main reason you should watch this overlooked work.

The scene in which the widow of a captain who would have been killed in action is awarded a medal is pivotal : the keywords to the movie are pride and honor.

When this widow is attacked by a rookie (a naive young man who thinks that his only punishment would be to be expelled from the army , a thing he ardently hopes -the very first scene is revealing- ) one attends a travesty of a trial ,where the court martial's purpose is less the search for truth (which might be really unbecoming) than to preserve the military values, to keep up appearances .A rotten microcosm where things better left unsaid happen .

Two new second lieutenants join the regiment in the Indian army: Michael York and James Faulkner. York is idealistic and hopes to make a brilliant career. Faulkner is there because his father was in the regimentt and it's expected of him. He hopes to serve the minimum amount of time and get on with his life back in England. The prospects are not good. Under the command of its colonel, Trevor Howard, it's hide-bound, ritual stuffed, with constant talk about the honor of the regiment, and new lieutenants are to be seen and not heard. Millington doesn't care. He talks out loud and makes advances to Susannah York. She's the widow of a regimental hero who was killed in the field, and his uniform and VC are on display. So when she accuses Millington of attacking her in the garden, there's talk of a court martial. But that would reflect on the honor of the regiment, so a subaltern's court is convened, unofficial and just as binding. York is to defend Millington; his work is expected to be pro forma, but he mounts an actual defense. Stacy Keach, who's in charge of the court keeps trying to shut him down. But the stories begin to leak....

It's all spit and polish in the performances, with some major talent on view, including Richard Attenborough, Christopher Plummer, and James Donald stiff-upper-lipping their way through their roles. It's based on an award winning play by the appropriately named Barry England. While it's opened up nicely for the big screen, some of the staging comes through, particularly in Miss York's performance.

If you're familiar with Fametracker and its 'Hey! It's that guy!' feature, you'll understand what I mean by an 'it's-him'. It's when you watch a film and all the way through you're pointing at second banana actors going 'Oh look, it's him'. One of the pleasures of this film is trying to work out exactly why so-and-so's face is familiar and then realising it's Prior Robert from TVs Cadfael, or something similar.

I read the play Conduct Unbecoming at school, and while this film does not go quite as deeply into the themes it throws up, ie moral bankruptcy in the British Raj/army and macho values in general, it remains a well-made, well acted period drama redolent of the distinctive spirit of the period.

Then again, I could be biased because I find Milington so dishy (he played Herod Agrippa in I, Claudius, in case you're stumped!)