Billy Budd

A nice, innocent kid getting brutalized by an incredibly-sadistic 1700s ship officer is not always easy to watch, but this is one of the better under-publicized films of its day. It sill holds up, some 40-plus years later, and I'm still wondering when a DVD will come out. The great cinematography alone makes this cry out for a good DVD transfer.

It was an apt choice to cast Robert Ryan as the sadistic "Claggart." Ryan played mostly villains in his career and is extremely effective in that role here as an intelligent-but-sick-and-vicious bully. In fact, his character in Billy Budd remains one of the most memorable villains I've seen in a half century of movie watching. It isn't just his deeds. The looks on his face alone as he delivers his lines make him fascinating.

Peter Ustinov gives a great performance as the captain of the ship and a man who has to make a big, big decision about Mr. Budd, played by a young and boyish-looking Terrence Stamp. The character "Billy Budd" is about as pure and innocent as some of the characters Jennifer Jones played in the 1940s, such as Cluny Brown, Bernadette Soubirous or Jennie Appleton. Also of interest is Melvyn Douglas as the aging seaman.

This is simply a powerful and very involving film, one that is hard to forget.

Billy Budd is one of those under-appreciated films that demonstrate just how good movies can be when the producers don't succumb to the temptation to `Hollywoodize' a great work of literature. Peter Ustinov is to be commended for not adding any gratuitous love-interest to this film. In fact, there are no women in the movie at all, nor are is there any reason why there should be. Ustinov is also to be commended for not mitigating the tragic overtones of Mellville's story. Very few movies have been produced, apart from adaptations of Shakespeare, that can truely by characterized as tragedies. For Billy Budd is, indeed, a tragedy in the classical sense of the word. Billy is a classic tragic hero in that he is brought down by his single fatal flaw: an inability to articulate under emotional stress. By the same token, Captain Vere's tragedy lies in an equal inability to see beyond the need to uphold the letter of the law. All the cast do a superb job, but Terrance Stamp is particularly outstanding in the Christ-like title role. Ustinov himself also shines as the Pilate-like Captain Vere, and this movie may well be his finest performance. Robert Ryan also stands out as Master-at-Arms John Clagget, one of the most enigmatic villains in all literature. About the only criticism that has been directed at Billy Budd concerns the seeming incongruouity of the film's final scene. Without giving too much away, it should be pointed out that, after the mass-mutiny of the sailors in the British Navy in 1797 (the historical period in which Billy Budd takes place), those same British sailors turned around and achieved a resounding naval victory at the Battle of Camperdown. Bearing that in mind, the ending does not seem quite so unbelievable after all.

If you've read the Melville story, this film will be a delightful surprise, especially in contrast to what usually happens to film adaptations of literature. For those of you who've never heard of Herman Melville, it's no matter. This film can stand on its own without reference or support from its original source.

A cheerful, innocent young man with wide eyes and blonde hair is conscripted from his commercial schooner to serve aboard an English Royal Merchant ship, which is akin to being Shang-Hai'd, but without the knock to the head. Everyone on both his old and new ship loves Billy Budd, an affable, competent young seaman who can fathom no sinister purpose in man nor beast, until he meets the master-at-arms of his new vessel.

I don't want to give away any more of the story, so give this lovely film a try if the premise interests you.

One of the best dramas of the sixties. The acting in this movie is superb. With an all star cast of Robert Ryan, Peter Ustinov, Melvyn Douglas and Terrance Stamp you can't go wrong. Filmed in glorious black and white. Ustinov at his best as the perplexed Captain and my favorite Robert Ryan as the sadistic Master of Arms. Billy Budd is a high seas adventure which won't disappoint.

I saw this when it first came out and loved it! The makers of this film (from the UK) are to be praised for addressing a subject historically so controversial that their countrymen could object it has anti-British content based on familiar stereotypes. Yet it is undeniably true. The British Empire thrived on a system of enforced labor, which included plantation slavery, pressgangs in the Navy and crimping of soldiers into the Army. The practice of stealing American sailors off of American ships and forcing them into the British service remained a vexed question between the two countries even after the revolution. Americans who had won their freedom in the revolution had to surrender it to the same tyrants on the high seas. "Billy Budd" shows the tragic injustice of being forced to serve an enemy, suffer his contempt and be punished for the natural act of defending oneself.

Technically, the film couldn't be better. The drama is excellently drawn in well lit black and white and cuts from scene to scene in a manner that never sacrifices clarity to suspense, telling the story as well as it can be told on screen. The close ups reveal all the nuances of character implied in Melville's great novel, making very accessible the emotion of righteous indignation, which is the film's final message. Today, a production crew like the one that made "Billy Budd" could make itself very busy faithfully translating literary classics onto the screen.