Directed by Guy Hamilton
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, 20th Century Fox)
Robert Mitchum is an Army Colonel assigned to defend a Lieutenant who killed an English soldier in cold blood. It's set in India towards the end of WWII, and the US wants to keep on good terms with the English. So, the accused is railroaded into a court martial and Mitchum ordered to let him hang. There is only one problem, the murderer is obviously insane. Mitchum faces a moral dilemma, do what he is ordered by Army brass for the "greater good" of the war effort and let a sick man be hanged, or defend him at trial with an insanity plea. It's not an easy choice, since Mitchum is a career Army man and decorated with medals, and disobeying orders could easily mean getting kicked out. Things come to a head in the excellent court scene at the end, with Mitchum particularly effective at cross examination of a belligerent Major who is covering up essential evidence.
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