Main Cast: Michael York, Richard Attenborough, Trevor Howard, Stacy Keach, Christopher Plummer
Release Year: 1975
Country: UK
Run Time: 107 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Based on a play by Barry England, the British Conduct Unbecoming revolves around a sexual violation--which may or may not have occurred. In British India, highborn Mrs. Scarlett (Susannah York) accuses 2nd Lt. Millington, a Bengal Lancer officer (James Faulkner) of raping her. Lieutenant Arthur Drake (Michael York) is assigned to defend Lt. Millington in a trial held behind closed doors to avoid scandal. Colonel Strang (Trevor Howard.) is a martinet judge who presses for a conviction, only to have his determination shaken by the introduction of new evidence. Conduct Unbecoming has the look and feel of a decades-old stage production, but the dialogue and performances provide a strictly contemporary slant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Susannah York - Mrs. Marjorie Scarlett; James Faulkner - Lt. Edward Millington; Michael Culver - Lt. Richard Fothergill; James Donald - Doctor; Rafiq Anwar - Pradah Singh; Helen Cherry - Mem Strang; Michael Fleming - Lt. Frank Hart; David Robb - 2nd Lt. Winters; David Purcell - 2nd Lt. Boulton; Andrew Lodge - 2nd Lt. Hutton; David Neville - 2nd Lt. Truly; Persis Khambatta - Mrs. Bandanai; Michael Byrne - 2nd Lt. Toby Strang
Credit
Ted Tester - Art Director, Joan Bridge - Costume Designer, Elizabeth Haffenden - Costume Designer, Michael Anderson - Director, John Glen - Editor, Stanley Myers - Composer (Music Score), Bob Huke - Cinematographer, Robert Huke - Cinematographer, Michael Deeley - Producer, Barry Spikings - Producer, Andrew Donally - Producer, Robert Enders - Screenwriter, Barry England - Play Author
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, Fothergill 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 Fothergill had joined the regiment, he begins to suspect the culprit was in fact one of the other officers.
