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.

What do you call a tedious courtroom drama with a shallow bottom but filled with fine acting? "Conduct Unbecoming". A stilted and wordy play stuffed full of fine actors, who do their stuff really well. If you like things "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing", this movie's for you.

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?

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.

Fans of court-martial stories will definitely want to rent Conduct Unbecoming, starring both Michael and Susannah York, Christopher Plummer, Stacy Keach, Trevor Howard, and Richard Attenborough. Set in British-occupied India, this mysterious story will keep you guessing until the end, and all the while you can look at the pretty costumes and beautiful sets.

Michael York arrives at his new post and is immediately befriended by James Faulkner, even though such an association might not be wise. James has a disrespectful attitude that frequently gets him in trouble. At an officer's ball, Susannah York rebuffs James's advances out in the garden. Minutes later, she's found with a torn gown and a rape accusation on her lips. Naturally, James is arrested and subjected to a court martial. It's supposed to be cut and dried, since Susannah is a beloved war hero's widow, and no one would dare question her word. But Michael takes on the position of advocate for the defense and threatens to open a messy can of worms. Stacy, Chris, and Trevor all warn him against it, but he believes in the honor of the army and the law so he tries hard to give James a fair trial.

This was an enjoyable drama with a great cast all giving their best. I didn't love the way it ended, but the rest of the journey was entertaining and full of great twists that kept me on the edge of my seat.