Carrington V.C. (1955)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Anthony Asquith

Writers:

Campbell Christie (by) and
Dorothy Christie (by) ...

Release Date:

25 April 1955 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A court-martial attempts to find out why, and if, an officer embezzled his unit's funds. |

Plot Keywords:

Court Martial | Colonel | Judge | Major | Sergeant

Awards:

Nominated for 5 BAFTA Film Awards.

Cast

David Niven	...	Major Charles 'Copper' Carrington
Margaret Leighton	...	Valerie Carrington
Noelle Middleton	...	Capt. Alison L. Graham
Allan Cuthbertson	...	Colonel Henniker
Victor Maddern	...	Sergeant Owen
Raymond Francis	...	Major Jim Mitchell
Geoffrey Keen	...	Brigadier Ayers Meadmore, President
Newton Blick	...	Judge Advocate A. Tesker Terry
Mark Dignam	...	Major Morse, Prosecutor
Robert Bishop	...	Prosecutor's Assistant
Maurice Denham	...	Lieutenant Colonel B.R. Reeve
Laurence Naismith	...	Major R.E. Panton
Clive Morton	...	Lieutenant Colonel T.B. Huxford
Michael Bates	...	Major A.T.M. Broke-Smith
Stuart Saunders	...	Sergeant Crane

Also Known As:

Court Martial (USA)

Runtime:

USA:105 min | UK:106 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:Btl | UK:PG

Company:

Remus

Trivia:

First full length feature of Michael Bates.

An officer on trial for doing what he said he would?.

Major Charles Carrington (David Niven), is arrested for taking £125 from the base safe, he also face two other charges that could finish his distinguished service career. He decides to act on his own defence at his court martial hearing, his argument being that he is owed a lot of money from the army for his various postings that have cost him out of his own pocket. To further complicate the proceedings, Carrington alleges he told his superior, the very disliked Colonel Henniker, that he was taking the money from the safe. A mans career, his marriage, and quite a few reputations, all hang in the balance.

Yes, well it is very British, of that there is no denying, it's very much heel to toe, cup of tea and chin chin chin. So with that in mind {i'm British myself by the way} this may grate on film viewers outside of the British Isles, but it's a really honest and interesting piece that scrutinises the British Court Martial system and rewards the court genre fans royally. Niven is, well Niven, he's always a solid professional who always earned his pay, and good support comes from the ladies of the piece, Margaret Leighton and Noelle Middleton, whilst i must give a mention to the seriously great Victor Maddern, an actor who was far from the A list of British greats but once you put the name to the face, you will see he was always memorable in what films he made.

So as a court room genre fan, and of course a staunch fan of British cinema, i'm going to rate 7/10 with a disclaimer that if those outside of my shores don't get it....well you just don't get it, {nudge nudge wink wink}.