Tunes of Glory (1960)

Director:

Ronald Neame

Writers:

James Kennaway (novel)
James Kennaway (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 December 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Colonel Jock Sinclair drank with his officers...and sang and danced with them...until that day when a shot rang out AND HE STOOD ALONE!

Plot:

Major Jock Sinclair has been in this Highland regiment since he joined as a boy piper. During the Second World War...

Plot Keywords:

Regiment | Colonel | Major | Commanding Officer | Second In Command

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 6 nominations

Cast

Alec Guinness	...	Maj. Jock Sinclair, D.S.O., M.M.
John Mills	...	Lt. Col. Basil Barrow (Battalion Commander)
Dennis Price	...	Maj. Charles 'Charlie' Scott, M.C. (Battalion Executive Officer)
Kay Walsh	...	Mary Titterington
John Fraser	...	Cpl. Piper Ian Fraser
Susannah York	...	Morag Sinclair
Gordon Jackson	...	Capt. Jimmy Cairns, M.C. (Battalion Adjutant)
Duncan Macrae	...	Pipe Maj. Duncan MacLean
Percy Herbert	...	RSM Riddick
Allan Cuthbertson	...	Capt. Eric Simpson
Paul Whitsun-Jones	...	Maj. 'Dusty' Miller (Mess President)
Gerald Harper	...	Maj. Hugo MacMillan
Richard Leech	...	Capt. Alec Rattray
Peter McEnery	...	2nd Lt. David MacKinnon
Keith Faulkner	...	Cpl. Piper Adam
Angus Lennie	...	Orderly Room Clerk
John Harvey	...	Sgt. Finney (Bridge House)
Bryan Hulme	...	Cpl. Drummer
Andrew Keir	...	LCpl. Campbell
Eric Woodburn	...	Landlord
Andrew Downie	...	Cpl. Waiter
Jameson Clark	...	Sir Alan
Lockwood West	...	Provost
Gwen Nelson	...	Provost's Wife
Robert Arnold	...	One of the other officers
Richard Rudd	...	One of the other officers
John Barcroft	...	One of the other officers
James Copeland	...	One of the other officers
Mark Burns	...	One of the other officers
John Bown	...	One of the other officers
William Young	...	One of the other officers
David Webb	...	One of the other officers
William Marlowe	...	Lt. Rory (one of the other officers)
Barry Steele	...	One of the other officers
Keith Banks	...	One of the other officers
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Frazer Hines	...	(uncredited)
Anne Leon	...	Bit part (uncredited)

Directed by
Ronald Neame

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
James Kennaway		novel
James Kennaway		screenplay

Produced by
Albert Fennell	....	executive producer
Colin Lesslie	....	producer

Original Music by
Malcolm Arnold

Cinematography by
Arthur Ibbetson

Film Editing by
Anne V. Coates

Production Design by
Wilfred Shingleton

Makeup Department
Harry Frampton	....	makeup artist
Barbara Ritchie	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Pat Marsden	....	production manager (as Patrick Marsden)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Colin M. Brewer	....	assistant director (as Colin Brewer)
Patrick Clayton	....	second assistant director (uncredited)
Terry Lens	....	third assistant director (uncredited)
Michael Stevenson	....	third assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Martin Atkinson	....	assistant art director
John Hoesli	....	draughtsman (uncredited)
A.J. Van Montagu	....	scenic artist (uncredited)
Tony Woollard	....	draughtsman (uncredited)

Sound Department
John Cox	....	sound supervisor
Leslie Hodgson	....	dubbing editor
Red Law	....	sound recordist
Bert Ross	....	sound recordist
Douglas Barnett	....	sound camera operator (uncredited)
John Salter	....	boom operator (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Austin Dempster	....	camera operator
John Jordan	....	focus puller (uncredited)
Malcolm Vinson	....	clapper loader (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Charles Guerin	....	wardrober
Dulcie Midwinter	....	wardrobe mistress (uncredited)

Music Department
Malcolm Arnold	....	conductor

Other crew
Rita Davison	....	continuity
Geoff Freeman	....	unit publicist (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Knightsbridge Films

Distributors

• United Artists Corporation (1960) (UK) (theatrical)
• Lopert Pictures Corporation (1960) (USA) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1963) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• United Artists (1960) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Channel 5 Video Distribution (1987) (UK) (VHS)
• Concorde Home Entertainment (2007) (Germany) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (USA) (laserdisc)
• Videosonic Arts (1986) (Greece) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

107 min | USA:106 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) | Australia:PG | Portugal:M/12 | USA:Not Rated | West Germany:12 (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Knightsbridge Films

Trivia:

Joan Hicksoncan be seen among the party-guests at the castle just before Barrow blows his cool. A brief exchange with him appears to be edited out.

Goofs:

Continuity: Major Sinclair starts the first day of Colonel Barrow's command still wearing his previous acting Colonel rank. Half way through the day (between the assault course and watching the pipers) his rank changes to Major. Whilst it is possible he might have had his jacket altered over between the scenes, it is not possible that Colonel Barrow (a stickler for uniform regulations) would not have mentioned this at the start of the day.

Quotes:

Lt. Col. Basil Barrow:When you're dying, when you really believe you're dying, you think of the most absurd things.
Capt. Jimmy Cairns, M.C.:In my war I never had time to think.
Lt. Col. Basil Barrow:Oh they gave me time, all right. Again and again. When I was in the prison camp, they nearly drowned me, then they brought me round. Then they put a wet cloth over my mouth and kept it wet until I nearly drowned again. And the only thing that pulled me through was the thought that one day I'd come back and sit in the middle of that table as colonel of this battalion, like my grandfather and his father before him. Only I was going to be the best of the lot.

Movie Connections:

References "Muffin the Mule" (1946)

Soundtrack:

A Gordon for Me

The art of acting

I finally had the chance to see this film in its entirety on Bravo a few days ago. Ronald Neame was not a director of the first rank, and he probably wasnt even a director of the second, but this is NOT a directors picture. It is a picture carried by superb acting and a brilliant script.I am now convinced that Guinness was one of the greatest screen actors that ever lived-if not the greatest.. This performance surpasses even his Colonel Nicholson in Bridge on the River Kwai, or his magnificent performances in the Ealing comedies. His boorish, arrogant, but oddly touching and vulnerable Jock Sinclair is a full length portrait worthy of Rembrandt-or Dostoevsky.John Mills, as the "by the book " colonel, whose aloof exterior hides enormous psychic scars, is almost equally good.Dennis Price, as a friend who turns his back on Sinclair, and the superb Gordon Jackson ( he was a great actor long, long before Upstairs Downstairs)as a restrained, sensitive officer who tries ineffectually to help both antagonists, are almost equally good. All of the other performances are very fine.The films beautifully written, sometimes funny, usually achingly sad script is a profound meditation on honor, tradition, repression and class conflict. Guinnesses soliloquy at the end is one of the most heart-breaking moments in all of film.