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