The first World War had just ended in total victory for the United States and its Allies. Now war was a thing of the past, America disbanded its army and stabled its navy, its air force was still an unwanted child. In 1921 off the coast of Virginia, the high command of the army and navy gathered to consider a revolutionary experiment.
William Mitchell was a controversial and famous character in American aviation history, his beliefs and future ideas as regards the importance and advancement of aviation in war got him into so much trouble it culminated in the Court Martial of the title. Though this Otto Preminger directed telling is not completely accurate in its history lesson, it is however (thanks to Gary Cooper's excellent portrayal) an excellent depiction of the man and his staunch nature. Naturally the picture is reliant on long pieces of dialogue, so really if anyone is after a blitzkrieg type war film then they should steer well clear, for this is a lesson in letting talking lead the way, and thus opening the door for the actors to do their respective stuff. Rod Steiger (solid if dangerously close to mugging too much), Ralph Bellamy, Charles Bickford and Elizabeth Montgomery round out the cast with varying degrees of success, but really it's with Gary Cooper that the films borders on success or failure, thankfully he comes thru with a fine line of sympathetic emotion that lifts the piece just above being middle of the road. 6/10
William Mitchell was a controversial and famous character in American aviation history, his beliefs and future ideas as regards the importance and advancement of aviation in war got him into so much trouble it culminated in the Court Martial of the title. Though this Otto Preminger directed telling is not completely accurate in its history lesson, it is however (thanks to Gary Cooper's excellent portrayal) an excellent depiction of the man and his staunch nature. Naturally the picture is reliant on long pieces of dialogue, so really if anyone is after a blitzkrieg type war film then they should steer well clear, for this is a lesson in letting talking lead the way, and thus opening the door for the actors to do their respective stuff. Rod Steiger (solid if dangerously close to mugging too much), Ralph Bellamy, Charles Bickford and Elizabeth Montgomery round out the cast with varying degrees of success, but really it's with Gary Cooper that the films borders on success or failure, thankfully he comes thru with a fine line of sympathetic emotion that lifts the piece just above being middle of the road. 6/10