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The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell

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6.8/10 • 39

1955-12-311h 40m

DramaWar

He defied the army and navy . . . and they gave him a Court Martial!

A dramatization of the American general and his court martial for publically complaining about High Command's dismissal and neglect of the aerial fighting forces.

Directors
Otto Preminger
Editors
Folmar Blangsted

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Gary Cooper

    Gary Cooper

    Col. Billy Mitchell

  2. Charles Bickford

    Charles Bickford

    Gen. Jimmy Guthrie

  3. Ralph Bellamy

    Ralph Bellamy

    Congressman Frank R. Reid

  4. Rod Steiger

    Rod Steiger

    Maj. Allan Guillion

  5. Elizabeth Montgomery

    Elizabeth Montgomery

    Margaret Lansdowne

  6. Fred Clark

    Fred Clark

    Col. Moreland

  7. James Daly

    James Daly

    Lt. Col. Herbert White

  8. Jack Lord

    Jack Lord

    Lt. Cmdr. Zachary 'Zack' Lansdowne

  9. Peter Graves

    Peter Graves

    Capt. Bob Elliott

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Aug 29, 2022

6/10

Gary Cooper is perfectly adequate in this rather dry telling of the court-martial of a pioneering American general who, according to this film anyway, prophesied the hitherto unimaginable rise in importance of air power in conflict as well as predicting that an attack on Hawaii by Japan was likely to succeed against the relatively ill-defended islands. Demoted and posted to an administrative job in Texas, things come to an head when he becomes so frustrated by the intransigence of his army superiors (this is before the USAF existed as a separate entity) that he goes to the press and is subsequently tried for gross insubordination. The narrative is interesting insofar as it illustrates the reluctance of the senior services to acknowledge the significance of these new machines - partly ignorance, partly a reluctance to allow anything else to vie for the limited resources available. The court proceedings, though, are rather dull and dreary. Ralph Bellamy turns in a spirited performance as his lawyer Reid, and Rod Steiger is bullish effective as his determined prosecutor but the whole look and feel of the film just lacks for weight and substance. There is precious little to excite here, it may be prophetic, but it's very wordy and there is a real dearth of action which makes the 100 minutes or so it takes to tell this story seem considerably longer. It does feature plenty of familiar faces which helps pass the time, but sadly this is a really rather unremarkable biopic that probably didn't even rock the fourth row, let alone the world!

Media

  • The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell poster
  • The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell poster
  • The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell poster
  • The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell poster
  • The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
--
Revenue
$3,000,000.00
Keywords
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