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King And Country
1964
The intensely dramatic story of a young soldier who faces a court-martial for desertion at the battle of Passchendaelle in 1917. Dirk Bogarde stars as the officer tasked with the job of saving him from the firing squad. Read more
| Starring | Dirk Bogarde, Tom Courtenay, Leo McKern, Barry Foster |
|---|---|
| Director | Joseph Losey |
| Genres | Drama |
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King And Country
The intensely dramatic story of a young soldier who faces a court-martial for desertion at the battle of Passchendaelle in 1917. Dirk Bogarde stars as the officer tasked with the job of saving him from the firing squad.
| Starring | Dirk Bogarde, Tom Courtenay, Leo McKern, Barry Foster, James Villiers |
|---|---|
| Director | Joseph Losey |
| Studio | BRITISH HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 22 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 01 Mar 2004 Production year: 1964 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (3)
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Arthur Hamp (Tom Courtenay) is a hapless private who has had enough of trench warfare and walks away from his post. Naturally he's caught, and Dirk Bogarde is ordered to defend him at his court martial. As in Bogarde's earlier collaboration with director Joseph Losey, The Servant (1963), this moving, if sometimes pompous, tale is really an allegory about the British class system. The film also bears a striking resemblance to Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957).
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After three years at the front in World War I, a young soldier simply walks away from the guns; he is court-martialled,... read more on Time Out
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Most helpful member's review
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3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
For once Bogarde is disappointing
Dirk Bogarde apparantly said that he thought this movie was the least successful of his collaborations with Joseph Losey. I can see why. Rarely seen, this is a low-budget and relatively short film (about 80 minutes) based on the play 'Hamp.'
Sadly, there is something seriously awry here. Perhaps the film is too obviously stuck in it's stage roots. The sets seem obviously studio-bound, but whether this is for effect or not is hard to work out.
The story, about the court-martial of a deserter in the first world war should be extremely moving, and yet the whole film comes over as cold and as artificial as the sets. The opening seven or eight minutes are overly 'arty.'
The performances are mostly superb. Bogarde was always interesting in his 1960s movies - although perhaps he comes over as a bit too stereotypically stiff-upper-lip here. Tom Courteney is a revelation in a difficult role. It's also good to see former child-star Jeremy Spenser in a rare adult role (one of his last).
All in all the film is a disappointment, and yet it is essential viewing for fans of The Servant, Accident and the like - if only for curiosity value.
From a technical point of view, the picture quality is not great - but whether this was due to the low-budget the film obviously had or a slapdash remastering is difficult to determine. -
Most recent members' review
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2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
Shell Shock
Despite the limitations imposed by the theatrical origins of the film, Losey manages to convey the muddy squalor of trench warfare and the class divide between officers and men during the Great War. Courtenay is excellent as Hamp, the shell-shocked deserter who *wanted to get away from the guns' and Bogarde quietly underplays his role as the defending officer. Bogarde, a serving officer in WW2, rewrote much of his dialogue as he felt the script, although based on a true incident, was unrealistic.
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King And Country
The intensely dramatic story of a young soldier who faces a court-martial for desertion at the battle of Passchendaelle in 1917. Dirk Bogarde stars as the officer tasked with the job of saving him from the firing squad....
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