DramaWar

The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell

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

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.

Release Date : 1955-12-31

Language :English

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Warner Bros. PicturesUnited States Pictures

Production Country : United States of America

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Character Name : Col. Billy Mitchell

Original Name : Gary Cooper

Gender : Male

Character Name : Gen. Jimmy Guthrie

Original Name : Charles Bickford

Gender : Male

Character Name : Congressman Frank R. Reid

Original Name : Ralph Bellamy

Gender : Male

Character Name : Maj. Allan Guillion

Original Name : Rod Steiger

Gender : Male

Character Name : Margaret Lansdowne

Original Name : Elizabeth Montgomery

Gender : Female

Character Name : Col. Moreland

Original Name : Fred Clark

Gender : Male

Character Name : Lt. Col. Herbert White

Original Name : James Daly

Gender : Male

Character Name : Lt. Cmdr. Zachary 'Zack' Lansdowne

Original Name : Jack Lord

Gender : Male

Character Name : Capt. Bob Elliott

Original Name : Peter Graves

Gender : Male

Character Name : Capt. Russ Peters

Original Name : Darren McGavin

Gender : Male

Character Name : Admiral Gage

Original Name : Robert F. Simon

Gender : Male

Character Name : Senator Fullerton

Original Name : Charles Dingle

Gender : Male

Character Name : General Douglas MacArthur

Original Name : Dayton Lummis

Gender : Male

Character Name : Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker

Original Name : Tom McKee

Gender : Male

Character Name : Major Carl Spaatz

Original Name : Stephen Roberts

Gender : Male

Character Name : General John J. Pershing

Original Name : Herbert Heyes

Gender : Male

Character Name : Major H. H. Arnold

Original Name : Robert Brubaker

Gender : Male

Character Name : Fiorello LaGuardia

Original Name : Phil Arnold

Gender : Male

Character Name : President Calvin Coolidge

Original Name : Ian Wolfe

Gender : Male

Character Name : Admiral William S. Sims

Original Name : Will Wright

Gender : Male

Character Name : Howard Millikan

Original Name : Gregory Walcott

Gender : Male

Reviews

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2022-08-29

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!