Les fanfares de la gloire

British military drama starring Alec Guinness as Maj. Sinclair, the loud, boisterous commanding officer of a Scottish regiment in the years after WWII. Higher ups decide that Sinclair isn't an appropriate peacetime commander, so they send Col. Barrow (John Mills) to replace him. Barrow is a strict ruler-follower who likes life quiet, sober, and "respectable". This sets the stage for a battle of wills between the two officers.

I've heard of this movie for a long time, and knew that it was well-liked (Guinness considered it one of his best performances), but it wasn't what I was expecting. It's a psychological study of these two men, and, with the Barrow character, an early examination of PTSD before it was called that (he was a P. O. W. In a Japanese camp, and was tortured). The accents can be a bit much, and if you don't like bagpipes, this is definitely not the movie for you, but I thought the acting was terrific, and the slow-burn drama builds to a shattering conclusion.

Alec Guinness is an amazingly under-appreciated actor. While most remembered for his Obi-Wan character, this was one of his least interesting or demanding roles. Few today realize the depth and range of his characterizations as well as the realism that he infused his characters with in his previous films. He was one of the finest British actors and this film is yet another example of his skills.

Guinness plays an angry and blustering Scottish officer who may also be an alcoholic (he at least is a problem drinker and shows many signs of alcoholism). The film begins with this popular officer throwing a farewell party, of sorts, with the men in his command. It seems that Guinness was given temporary command but a replacement (John Mills) is due to arrive shortly--dashing Guinness' hopes for this position becoming permanent.

Because Guinness' character is so very flawed and petty, he does much to try to undermine the new C.O.. In particular, Mills is a "by the book" sort of officer and Guinness ignores changes Mills orders--and by example, derision and a lack of respect for Mills spreads through the ranks. Instead of behaving like officers and gentlemen, the men behave like this is some sort of popularity contest and they show contempt for their new leader. None of this is helped by Guinness' drinking, as it gets him in trouble and creates serious problems for the regiment.

While Mills, as usual, does a great job in the film playing a man who is suffering from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, the film is definitely Guinness'. His boorish character is a great example of him once again immersing himself into a character and the way he responds to the tragedy near the end of the film gives the character great depth and a bit of sympathy--something you needed to make this a stand-out film.

The bottom line is that this film is extremely well-crafted. The acting is universally excellent, the script tense and well-written and the film is great unless you are the type of person who demands lots of action. While a film about the military, this is no action film. Wonderful.

Alec Guinness is superb as acting colonel Jock Sinclair. Drunken and boorish, a terrible administrator but a wartime hero. Rough and wild for once, he is cast against type, yet emerges triumphant in an acting master class.

The book is a slim volume, but is fast moving and full of character. Set in provincial Scotland, the flavour of the film is as strong as the novel (by James Kennaway who also wrote the screenplay) but the characterisation by the actors builds on and then surpasses the script. I note that neither of the actors is Scottish and this amazes me. Maybe I should seek advice from a Scot on this matter.

We never leave the barracks or the quiet army town and so learn only by rumour how Jock Sinclair, on some blasted field at the centre of El Alamein saved his regiment and turned the battle. Half the officers and men were dead, the cause lost, yet his spirit and the force of his will brought him a battlefield promotion to acting colonel. The Regiment is what he lives for.

Several years later, in peacetime, the army catches up with its paperwork and sends a proper officer to take back the reins. Basil Barrow arrives unexpectedly from a desk job and Sandhurst. His assignment is to organise and civilise the men, long gone wild under Jock's supervision. John Mills plays the rather impotent lonely Barrow as an accentless and educated man. There are "dark rumours" amongst the men that he may be English.

The clash between the two men commences immediately on their meeting and ends in scenes of mourning and redemption.

This is an actors film. There are few effects and much of the action is centred on one or the other of Guinness or Mills. Sinclair is a piper, this gives him an almost spiritual air and his feel for music (the Tunes of Glory) is the first area of contention between the two Colonels. When Jock leads his men in a wild and unruly reel with arms flailing and much shouting and yipping at a society ball the ensuing fit from the uptight and conservative Mills is wonderful. He trembles and shakes and we do likewise.

The film builds and builds to a finale full of Tunes of Glory and we come to an understanding about both men, as they come to understand each other.

I finally had the chance to see this film in its entirety on Bravo a few days ago. Ronald Neame was not a director of the first rank, and he probably wasnt even a director of the second, but this is NOT a directors picture. It is a picture carried by superb acting and a brilliant script.I am now convinced that Guinness was one of the greatest screen actors that ever lived-if not the greatest.. This performance surpasses even his Colonel Nicholson in Bridge on the River Kwai, or his magnificent performances in the Ealing comedies. His boorish, arrogant, but oddly touching and vulnerable Jock Sinclair is a full length portrait worthy of Rembrandt-or Dostoevsky.John Mills, as the "by the book " colonel, whose aloof exterior hides enormous psychic scars, is almost equally good.Dennis Price, as a friend who turns his back on Sinclair, and the superb Gordon Jackson ( he was a great actor long, long before Upstairs Downstairs)as a restrained, sensitive officer who tries ineffectually to help both antagonists, are almost equally good. All of the other performances are very fine.The films beautifully written, sometimes funny, usually achingly sad script is a profound meditation on honor, tradition, repression and class conflict. Guinnesses soliloquy at the end is one of the most heart-breaking moments in all of film.

These are just a few notes on one of my favorite films, "Tunes of Glory," which I recently watched again in its new Criterion DVD release. The plot is well-described by many posters below, so I won't bother with that.

The more I watch this film, the more I appreciate the wealth of detailed characterization it contains. On Barrow's first meeting with the officers of the regiment, as he is introduced to the rotund Major "Dusty" Miller, note John Mills' quick downward glance of disapproval at the Major's corpulent gut. In the following scene, where Jock Sinclair offers Barrow a whiskey, Barrow courteously replies that whiskey does not agree with him, to Jock's dismay. We later learn that Barrow is emotionally unstable, has problems controlling his rage, and that his family life has broken up. Could alcoholism be an issue, explaining his aversion to whiskey? While Guinness and Mills are justly praised, I find the performance by Dennis Price as Major Charlie Scott to be very interesting as well. Bringing to mind Ralph Richardson, he exudes an oily, genteel but detached sort of upper-crust English manner that Colonel Sinclair gleefully mocks ("old boy, old boy, old boy"). When RSM Riddick (Percy Herbert, distractingly bringing to mind Michael Palin in appearance and exaggerated military manner) tries to officially express the doubts of those in his own strata in the military hierarchy about the prosecution of Jock Sinclair, Barrow's first reaction is curiously bemused and sarcastic ("you astonish me"). Barrow subsequently snaps into martinet mode and brusquely dismisses Riddick's petition. His initial bemusement, though, is telling in that his instinct is not to take this man, from a lower level of the social and military hierarchy, seriously at all, treating him almost as an unruly child who needs be put in his place. Having seen power struggles, personality clashes, and class divisions like this in my work experience, I see that this all rings true. As foreign, exotic, and strange as the setting, characters, and language are to an American like me, the themes of this story are so universal that they can be immediately appreciated by almost anyone who's experienced life to some degree.

As for the language, it's a delight to finally have a DVD with English subtitles to clarify some of the spoken lines. The picture, by the way, is excellent on the new DVD, except for the intermittent appearance of a dark streak down the right side of the screen near the end of the film. I would have thought this could be fixed with digital restoration, but the cost of that might have been prohibitive, and though a little distracting, it really doesn't spoil my enjoyment. I think it's fitting that there are no negative reviews here thus far.