716Jones

Well, of course, what kind of idiot wants to watch a film with a brilliant script and no car chase.

Brownag

If you get a chance read the original book. It almost reads like the film script.

The same characters appear in 'Tunes of Glory' and George Macdonald Fraser's 'The General Danced at Dawn' series of books when Fraser's main character is back in Edinburgh after the 1st and 2nd battalions of his ficticious highland regiment are merged in 1948.

Kennaway joined the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders just after WW2 to do his National Service but was transferred to the Gordon Highlanders. Fraser enjoyed his time with the Gordons but Kennaway hated his.

It's worth noting the Highland regiment in the film are wearing the uniform of the Cameron Highlanders, the regiment Kennaway had wanted to serve in.

The Dogarina

Sadly most of the old cast are now pushing up daisies!
Funniest bit was Richard Leech as Capt. Rattray dancing rather exuberantly so much so that his partner ended up on the floor at the feet of Johnny Mills!
Richard told me it really was a bloody freezing location and that Guinness & Mills had an argy-bargy with the Producer as to who would get top billing!!

samkydd

I remember reading that one actor would have nothing to do with such petty arguments and always insisted that in anything he was in the billing would always be in alphabetical order. I can't remember if it was Anthony Andrews or Arthur Askey!

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

catflap

This has long been one of my favourite British films and I immediately ordered it when it was released through Criterion.

This is a film based mainly on performances and overall I would think Johnny Mills takes the honours. However, sneaking in and kicking goals when everyone is looking elsewhere is Dennis Price, who does his best Dennis Price, stealing the show with little to no visible effort.

Jim

That should read "You're RIGHT Sam"..........

You have to remember guys that the programme schedulers are probably only in their 20s and as such wouldn't know a good film if it jumped up and bit them in the ass; (apologies to those Forum members in their 20s)!

Good morning boys.

Redstar

Revisited my worn video copy of this film the other evening and it certainly retains all of it's dramatic feeling. The superb acting from all of the cast makes this one of my tour de forces of British cinema. The hostility between John Mills the new Colonel and Alec Guiness the 'acting Colonel' who feels he should have been appointed into the post is prevelent from the beginning, even the way they look at each other across the dining table is genius in acting.
The slow breakdown by Mills his twitching eye and the way he goes beserk at his officers for disobeying his orders at a cocktail dance is a classic in study of paranoia.
The whole film reeks atomosphere, the snow and cold castle, the quantities of whisky drunk in the officers mess. I like the portayals by Dennis Price and Duncan Macrae one with an Etonian officers accent and the other a rich Scottish.
There is plenty of humour as well, especially when Mills makes the officers attend dance classes at 7am on a cold winters morning. The casting was brilliant although Susannah York was not entirely convincing as Guinesses daughter.
That aside there is more drama and fine acting in 100 plus minutes than many of the gimmick laden movies of today.

Ascoyne D'Ascoyne

At his appearance at the NFT to coincide with the release of the Adam Adamant series on dvd, Gerald Harper seemed to be very pleased when my companion asked him a question about his role in this film. He spoke very warmly about the help Alec Guinness had given him in the early stages of his career.
Gerald Harper still looks in fine fettle and, happily, is not amongst those who are pushing up the daisies.

Redstar

Just out of interest can anyone tell me what castle was used in the making of this great film?

By the way I am a new member so still finding my way around this excellent site.

Bloodnok

It really is an excellent film and, I think, one of the best cinematic portrayals of life in the peace-time Army. It's all about boredom, drinking, small towns, drinking, violence, drinking, women, internecine unit politics and....did I mention drinking?

Additionally - it captures the conflict between officers drawn from 'the upper crust' and 'rankers' ie, those who've pulled themselves up by their boot straps. Oddly enough, the latter types can be worse b*stards than the silver spoon brigade!

stevie boy

Mills & Guinness both at the top of their form. Mills scene when he loses it is brilliant and Guiness when Mills has died is acting of an exceptional standard. An absolute classic film.

christoph404

It is often incorrectly credited as being filmed at Edinburgh Castle, no filming took place there. I believe the original book was set at Stirling Castle and director Ronald Neame wanted to film on location there but permission was not given to film inside Stirling Castle after the commander of the military regiment based there took exception to elements of the script, particularly the suicide of the Mills character. The film crew were allowed to use an exterior shot of Stirling Castle at the beginning of the film on the condition that the Castle should not be named in the film and that it should not be instantly recognised as Stirling Castle. So in the opening establishing shot with the credits,we see a view of Stirling Castle but some of the outline of the buildings are disguised with a Matte process which alters the appearance slightly, it is still unmistakeably Stirling Castle though and there is also a brief shot of the exterior of Stirling Castle at the end of the film as Jock Sinclair's jeep drives out of the castle portcullis and down the street with the Guiness character burying his face in his cap. The fact that he is burying his face in his cap is convenient for the second unit who filmed these brief exterior scenes and for the double standing in for Guiness! None of the principal actors went to Scotland or Stirling for any filming, the interior courtyard ,parade ground , ramparts and everything else in the film is a large very convincing exterior set built at Shepperton studios in England. The scene in the film where Jock is walking down the street to go to the pub where he will confront his daughter with the John Fraser character looks like it was filmed in Windsor! I was born and brought up in the town of Stirling and "Tunes of Glory" is one of my favourite films, for years I was convinced it was actually filmed within Stirling Castle, but as I have said,only a brief establishing shot and an end shot by the second unit were filmed there. I must say the rest is very well done and had me fooled for years and I have visited Stirling Castle umpteen times. I think the set designer must have wandered around both Stirling and Edinburgh Castle taking photos and basing his set on an amalgamation of both. Movie magic at its best!
On a different note, the old town of Stirling and its Castle was used extensivley as a location a couple of years ago to evoke old Edinburgh in a film version of "Greyfriars Bobby" with Gregg Wise, James Cosmo, and Christopher Lee as the Lord Provost!

dremble wedge

Absolutely!

Windthrop

A agree with the previous comments on Price - small role big impact. I still think it is Mills finest hour as an actor - he was always an actor who raised his game when working with the best - another example is when he was opposite Charles Laughton in Hobson's Choice. It is one of those films where remaking it is almost superfluous - it would be difficult to imagine a different cast and dirctor bettering it.

On a sad note it's one of those films which with every passing year the survivng cast members diminish.

Thats the joke that killed the Music Hall !

stevie boy

Very interesting and informative comments, thanks you very much.