A company of British soldiers in colonial India is shaken when the widow of their most honored hero is assaulted. A young officer must defend a fellow lieutenant from the charges in an unusual court-martial, while investigating the deepening mystery behind the attack.
Michael York
Tenente Arthur Drake
Richard Attenborough
Maggiore Lionel E. Roach
Trevor Howard
Colonnello Benjamin Strang
Stacy Keach
Capitano Archer
Christopher Plummer
Maggiore Alastair Wimbourne
Susannah York
Marjorie Scarlett
James Faulkner
Tenente Edward Millington
Persis Khambatta
Mrs. Bandanai
Michael Culver
Lt. Richard Fothergill
James Donald
The Doctor
Rafiq Anwar
Pradah Singh
Helen Cherry
Mrs. Strang
David Robb
2nd Lt. Winters
Michael Byrne
2nd Lt. Toby Strang
Director
Michael Anderson
Writer
Robert Enders
Writer
Barry England
May 4, 2024
6
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.
Status:
Released
Original Language:
English
Budget:
$0.00
Revenue:
$0.00