Conduct Unbecoming
Picture: C+
Sound: C Extras: C+ Film: C+
In the mid-1970s, gentleman journeyman British director
Michael Anderson was at his commercial peak and created some interesting, if
not always successful, films. Between
the commercial disappointment of Doc Savage (1975) with George Pal and
the hit Logan’s Run (1976, almost produced by Pal), he made the drama Conduct
Unbecoming (1975) in which a member of a prestige British regiment has
raped the wife of a Bengal Lancer. The
result is an investigation and court trial, with inquiries led by a solider
(Michael York) trying to get to the truth and justice. One man (James Faulkner) has been accused,
but his guilt seems only tentatively likely.
As the film progresses, it does become the typical
courtroom drama and the Robert Enders screenplay is based on a play by Barry
England, but the film does not feel like a filmed stage play. This is not to say it totally becomes
removed from those trappings, but it is not the typically bad result we usually
get today when such productions surface.
Thanks to the costumes, production design and editing by John Glen, the
film moves as much as can be expected with the density that results from the
lush look and feel of the film. It
should be noted that Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon came out the same
year, and while this film has some overtones of Kubrick’s Paths Of Glory
(1957), the low-budget production looks authentic as compared to the many films
Barry Lyndon put some serious age on as far as historical epics and
dramas were concerned. Add a cast that
includes Susannah York as the victim, Richard Attenborough, Trevor Howard,
Stacy Keach, Persis Khambatta and Christopher Plummer round out an exceptional
cast.
The biggest problem with the film is that it drags too
much, even though the idea that something rotten happens with the British
Empire’s colonization of India is intriguing versus all the British adventure
films where it is a domain to visit without penalty and the seriousness of the
crime is held back (sometimes almost trivialized) by a mixed mystery plot. It is still an ambitious production and
deserves to be out on DVD, but only so much is truly memorable or unique about
it despite al the talent involved.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is from a print
that exhibits some depth and detail limits, and though the color is often good,
this could look better. Robert Huke’s
cinematography deserves it. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Mono is the weak point of the DVD, with distortion throughout,
including in Stanley Myers’ music score.
Myers was on his way to scoring Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter
(1978, reviewed elsewhere on this site) and several Nicolas Roeg films, while
co-producers Michael Deeley and Barry Spikings would next produce Roeg’s The
Man Who Fell To Earth (1976) and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner
(1982). Extras include separate audio
commentaries by York and Anderson, who offer more interesting observations and
information as good as what they contributed to the joint commentary on the 12”
special collector’s edition of Logan’s Run that remains one of the few
extras to make it to either DVD release.
You also get text biographies, stills and an original trailer for this
film. Despite its problems, Conduct
Unbecoming is still worth a look.
- Nicholas Sheffo
