The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell

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

1955 1h 40m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

★6.8TMDB · 49

DramaWar

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

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

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Cast

Gary Cooper
Col. Billy Mitchell
Charles Bickford
Gen. Jimmy Guthrie
Ralph Bellamy
Congressman Frank R. Reid
Rod Steiger
Maj. Allan Guillion
Elizabeth Montgomery
Margaret Lansdowne
Fred Clark
Col. Moreland
James Daly
Lt. Col. Herbert White
Jack Lord
Lt. Cmdr. Zachary 'Zack' Lansdowne

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Otto Preminger
Writers: Emmet Lavery, Emmet Lavery, Milton Sperling
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

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Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

71 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Otto Preminger, shot by Sam Leavitt. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Dimitri Tiomkin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Folmar Blangsted shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Gary Cooper and Charles Bickford and Ralph Bellamy carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "He defied the army and navy . . . and they gave him a Court Martial!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0047956 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 49 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Otto Preminger directs. Sam Leavitt behind the camera. Dimitri Tiomkin scores. Folmar Blangsted cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

171 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Directed by Otto Preminger, shot by Sam Leavitt. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Dimitri Tiomkin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Folmar Blangsted shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Gary Cooper and Charles Bickford and Ralph Bellamy carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "He defied the army and navy . . . and they gave him a Court Martial!".
7IMDB entry: tt0047956 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 49 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Sam Leavitt
Original score: Dimitri Tiomkin
Editing: Folmar Blangsted
Costume design: Howard Shoup
Makeup / hair: Gordon Bau
Runtime: 100 min · 1h 40m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $3,000,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)

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Otto Preminger

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2022-08-29
★ 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!

Production companies