Conduct Unbecoming (film)

Conduct Unbecoming
Directed by	Michael Anderson
Starring	Michael York Richard Attenborough Trevor Howard
Music by	Stanley Myers
Cinematography	Robert Huke
Editing by	John Glen
Distributed by	British Lion
Release date(s)	5 October 1975
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Conduct Unbecoming is a 1975 British drama film, an adaptation of the Barry England play Conduct Unbecoming first staged in 1969. It was directed by Michael Anderson and starred an ensemble cast of actors including Michael York, Richard Attenborough and Trevor Howard.

Plot

Two young British officers arrive to join a prestigious regiment serving in India. One, Lieutenant Drake (York), from a middle-class background, is extremely eager to make the right impression while the other, Lieutenant Millington (Faulkner), the son of a General, is not taken with the idea of the army, and keen to get out as soon as he possibly can. Almost as soon as they arrive, Millington gets off on the wrong foot with his comrades, causing them to dislike him.

A number of ladies associate with the regiment, many of them widows of officers who have died on active service. One of the most feted of these is Mrs Marjorie Scarlett, whose husband Captain Scarlett won a posthumous Victoria Cross after fighting on the North-West Frontier. [This would have been impossible, however, since the film is set in a period when the Victoria Cross was not awarded posthumously.] During an evening in the mess, involving the younger officers taking part in a ceremonial tradition that involves the pursuit and sticking of a pig, Mrs Scarlett runs in claiming to have been attacked, and identifies Lieutenant Millington as her attacker.

Millington has clearly seen this as a quick way back to England, and is apparently not bothered by the disgrace. He does not co-operate with the officer selected to defend him, Lieutenant Drake, and is adamant in his refusal to deny his guilt. The trial, convened in secret by the officers of the regiment to protect reputations, is expected to be a formality.

However, as the court begins to examine the open-and-shut circumstances of the case, a number of elements of doubt creep into the case including the nature of the attack, and the veracity of some of the evidence being given. This leads to Drake beginning to dig a little further, and having found a similar attack had taken place six months before, long before Millington had joined the regiment, he begins to suspect the culprit was in fact one of the other officers.

Cast

Actor	Role
Michael York	Lieutenant Drake
Richard Attenborough	Major Roach
Trevor Howard	Colonel Strang
Stacy Keach	Captain Harper
Christopher Plummer	Major Wimbourne
Susannah York	Mrs Scarlett
James Faulkner	Lieutenant Millington
Michael Culver	Lieutenant Fothergill

External links

• Conduct Unbecoming (film) at the Internet Movie Database