Tunes of Glory – 1960 | 107 mins | Drama | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Tunes of Glory is the story of two contrasting army officers; a strait-laced officer takes up his new posting as CO of a Scottish Highland regiment, but clashes with his easygoing predecessor every step of the way.

Major Jock Sinclair (Alec Guinness) is the Acting Colonel of a Scottish regiment that has returned to Scotland in the aftermath of WW II, Jock is a charismatic drunk with little interest in commanding a peacetime unit. The regiment is undisciplined and rules are easily bent. Enter Jock’s replacement, Lieut. Col. Basil Barrow (John Mills), a veteran of a Japanese POW camp during WW II and a man devoted to restoring the faded glory of the regiment. Barrow is an ex-public schoolboy who has been working behind a desk at Sandhurst, while Jock is a hero of El Alamein, an ex-convict who worked his way up through the ranks – the two men clash instantly. The officers who were under Jock appreciate his personal bravery and his wartime abilities, but they hate his boorish ways and some of them disperse to Barrow, hoping that he will bring back the regiment’s former days of glory.

When Jock finds his daughter, Morag (Susannah York), in a bar with Corporal Fraser (John Fraser), Jock assaults the soldier and faces a possible court-martial. Barrow has a choice: send the case up to high command, or he can personally settle it within the regiment. Major Scott (Dennis Price), who has never liked Jock, pushes Barrow to go for the full court-martial. Barrow is about to turn the case over to his superiors when Jock comes to him and makes an impassioned plea for leniency. Barrow yields to Jock’s appeal, and feeling that his indecision is an indication of his inability to command, Barrow commits suicide.