I think it is one of the great British films and, in fact, one of the great films made anywhere. I know it did receive good reviews and attention when it was released, but it is nevertheless highly under-rated.
John Mills' performance is still the finest work I have seen by an actor in any film from any country.
I had always enjoyed John Mills' performances. In this, he goes far beyond anything I had seen him do before. He creates an intensely sympathetic character out of a man who might have been a martinet. I found myself understanding him from the inside.
The sequence where Barrow realizes what he has done by allowing Sinclair off without punishment is something I won't forget.
There is a great deal here, as there so often in outstanding British films: the specific details of class differences and the military world are a prism that allow for a larger understanding.
It was fascinating for me to see the England-Scotland relationship from the Scots perspective. It's unusual for me, as an American, to find it any film or television show.
Also, Dennis Price surprised me. He gave a fine performance, but there seemed to be something wrong with him inside. I don't mean that he simply looked older. Something had happened to him since A Canterbury Tale- a coarsening. I don't know how else to put it. It seemed very strange and sad.
John Mills' performance is still the finest work I have seen by an actor in any film from any country.
I had always enjoyed John Mills' performances. In this, he goes far beyond anything I had seen him do before. He creates an intensely sympathetic character out of a man who might have been a martinet. I found myself understanding him from the inside.
The sequence where Barrow realizes what he has done by allowing Sinclair off without punishment is something I won't forget.
There is a great deal here, as there so often in outstanding British films: the specific details of class differences and the military world are a prism that allow for a larger understanding.
It was fascinating for me to see the England-Scotland relationship from the Scots perspective. It's unusual for me, as an American, to find it any film or television show.
Also, Dennis Price surprised me. He gave a fine performance, but there seemed to be something wrong with him inside. I don't mean that he simply looked older. Something had happened to him since A Canterbury Tale- a coarsening. I don't know how else to put it. It seemed very strange and sad.
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