The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell

1955

1h 40m

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

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Drama

War

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

Writers

Emmet Lavery(screenplay by)

Milton Sperling(screenplay by)

Milton Sperling(story by)

Stars

Gary Cooper

Charles Bickford

Ralph Bellamy

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Top cast

Gary Cooper

Col. Billy Mitchell

Charles Bickford

Gen. Jimmy Guthrie

Ralph Bellamy

Congressman Frank R. Reid

Maj. Allan Guillion

Margaret Lansdowne

Col. Moreland

Lt. Col. Herbert White

Jack Lord

Lt. Cmdr. Zachary 'Zack' Lansdowne

Capt. Bob Elliott

Capt. Russ Peters

Admiral Gage

Senator Fullerton

General Douglas MacArthur

Tom McKee

Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker

Stephen Roberts

Major Carl Spaatz

Herbert Heyes

General John J. Pershing

Robert Brubaker

Major H. H. Arnold

Phil Arnold

Fiorello LaGuardia

Directors

Otto Preminger

Writers

Emmet Lavery(screenplay by)

Milton Sperling(screenplay by)

Milton Sperling(story by)

All cast & crew

Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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!

Geronimo196729 Aug, 2022