Conduct Unbecoming

Despite the pretty stellar cast list, I struggled a bit with this rather dreary story. It centres around James Faulkner's "Lt. Millington" who is being court-martialled in British India for a serious assault on the widow of a fallen colleague - "Mrs. Scarlett" (Susannah York). He is to be defended by the inexperienced "Drake" (Michael York) before a committee chaired by the openly hostile "Capt. Harper" (Stacey Keach). On the face of it, he is doomed - but some tenacious investigative work from his counsel gradually gets to the bottom of what happened. The ending is more of a sort of guess which of the other famous actors - Trevor Howard, Richard Attenborough or perhaps Christopher Plummer might have done it given we are pretty safe to assume that poor old "Millington" is being stitched up. Sadly, this moves at a glacial pace with none of the characters offering much by way of depth or interest. Colourful? Yes, that's true - and the costumes and settings all look great, but like so many of these latter-day tales of Empire, it is all faintly ridiculous and swings clumsily at the supposed honour of the "regiment" at all costs in quite a shallow fashion. I found the direction was much more suitable for a theatrical delivery, too. Disappointing.

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!)

1870s. Two young English officers, 2nd Lieutenants Drake and Millington, report for duty at a cavalry regiment in India. Soon hereafter, the widow of a regimental hero is assaulted and she identifies Lt. Millington as her assailant. In order to preserve the honour of the regiment, a clandestine, off-the-books court martial is arranged in order to try Lt. Millington. Lt. Drake acts as his defence attorney. The case seems cut-and-dried but Lt. Drake has other ideas and soon uncovers some alarming evidence.

Not your average courtroom drama as its set in a military camp in British Colonial India in the 19th century. Quite intriguing as it seems like an open-and-shut case but slowly you get to realise that it is anything but that. Some great twists and turns as startling new evidence comes to light.

It's also an interesting character study as the young Lt. Drake (played superbly by Michael York) goes from unsure, stumbling, deferential junior officer to becoming more sure of himself and more willing to challenge his superiors. Quite the character arc.

Far from brilliant though. The plot ultimately isn't entirely watertight and the revelation at the end doesn't completely make sense. Production values are quite cheap and make the film feel like a play.

Can't fault the cast though: Michael York (as mentioned), Trevor Howard, Christopher Plummer, Richard Attenborough, Susannah York, Stacy Keach. Solid performances all round.

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.

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.