The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955) User Reviews

The Court Martial of an Aviation Visionary

[theowinthrop · 7/10 · 23 June 2005]

In 1925 the U.S. Naval Air Force's major new piece of military hardware was a zeppelin that had been built in Germany at the end of the First World War, which was given to the U.S as a reparation, and renamed the U.S.S. Shenandoah. The craft had a crack team running it, and it had an excellent head, Commander Zachary Landowne. It was in fair demand around the country, for most people believed that the future of long distance air travel would be in airships, not airplanes. So the Navy brass frequently sent the Shenandoah on public relations flights, rather than using it for military purposes or long distance flights.

It was sent to Ohio where local politicians wanted to use the zeppelin to impress voters. Unfortunately, there was a storm front with heavy thundershowers in the path of the zeppelin, and the zeppelin had recently had some damage to a fin on it's tale. There had been no time to repair the damage. So when the zeppelin crossed into the storm front, the zeppelin was ripped apart by the winds and crashed killing Landsdowne and fourteen men.

Landsdowne's close friend, Brigadier General Billy Mitchell was exceptionally critical of the disaster. He blamed the politicians and military brass who ordered the flight. As Mitchell had been long a thorn in the side of these two groups, as he tried to push his views on air power and the need for a unified, strong air force, he was charged with insubordination and ordered to be court martial-ed.

Gary Cooper plays Mitchell well, as an honest, honorable man, who realizes that the future will be only safe for those who have a strong air arm. He is fighting old fashion ideas, mouthed by old fashioned army leaders like Fred Clark. He does have allies like his lawyer, a Congressman played by Ralph Bellamy, and like one of the judges (General Douglas MacArthur - who was the only one to vote for acquittal). But the issue goes down to the Mitchell's insubordination. And this leads to the dramatic high point, when Cooper is cross-examined by the malicious and clever Rod Steiger. Steiger is able to get Cooper to not only reveal his lack of respect for the brass but to reveal his mistrust of the Japanese. That he is correct in the long run does not save him - he is found guilty and suspended without pay from the army for five years.

Mitchell died in 1936, not in time to see his vindication five years later. But he is remembered now as the real founder of the modern American Air Force. The film is a pretty good retelling of his story, and reminds us how frequently a prophet is despised and rejected in his or her time.

The Auto-Destruction of a Pioneer Air Power Visionary

[lawprof · 7/10 · 23 January 2004]

Few who aren't students of the history of airpower today recognize the name of William "Billy" Mitchell. An early pilot in the U.S. Army's fledgling Air Corps, he served in World War I when no American-produced plane saw action above the trenches of France. Notwithstanding the Wright brother's initial breathtaking powered flight, by 1914 England, France and Germany were far ahead of us in not only aircraft design but also in fashioning tactics for a new kind of warfare.

Mitchell returned from the war not only a convert to the future of airpower but as a zealot advocating his prophecy to all who would listen (and to very many who didn't want to). The post-war Army suffered massive cutbacks. Mitchell reverted from brigadier general to his permanent rank of colonel, a more gentle demotion than many others experienced.

The Army's first postwar chief of staff was the only man ever to hold the rank of General of the Armies, John J. "Black Jack" Pershing. Pershing actually appreciated aviation's potential to a real degree but he faced a budget-cutting congress while leading an army with too many senior officers who dimly recalled fighting Indians from the saddle.

Mitchell was given the opportunity to sink the German war prize battleship "Ostfriesland." A rather foolish cabinet member offered to watch the aerial bombing from the warship's deck, so certain was he that the vessel couldn't be destroyed from the air. Fortunately for him his offer was not taken up.

Gary Cooper turns in a quietly passionate role as the Air Corps leader who did sink the "Ostfriesland." In the film he's shown disobeying war game rules and using one-ton bombs not approved for the exercise. That never happened. He went by the rules (that time). His and his pilots' achievements were dismissed, however, by battleship-loving admirals who claimed that the test was meaningless since the ship wasn't defending itself. Some Japanese observers were less sure that this was a valid analysis.

Gary Cooper's Billy Mitchell, despite deviations from the real story, is a remarkably accurate picture of a dedicated officer with unrestrained hubris whose public and volatile denunciations of Army and Navy superiors for numerous fatal crashes led to his then highly-publicized court-martial.

Ralph Bellamy as Congressman Frank Reid is Mitchell's chief counsel. A blistering but unreal cross-examination by the young Rod Steiger as MAJ Allan Gullion is the the dramatic high point of the film. It's something we expect from the courtroom genre. Mitchell is convicted of, in essence, disobedience, and is placed on a long-term suspended status (in reality the effective and actual termination of his military career without the continuing public interest that incarceration would have brought).

Cooper is strongly expressive while exuding a powerful sense of personal morality and duty as Mitchell defined that quality. That largely matches the real Mitchell.

As defense witnesses we see the young H.H. Arnold (to achieve five-star rank in World War II) and Carl Spaatz, a four-star architect of strategic bombing in the next war. These officers persevered in their dedication to birthing a powerful air force and they did it without losing their careers and thus their effectiveness (in that regard they mirrored young field grade officers such as George Patton and Dwight Eisenhower in their crusade to take the Army from the horse to the tank).

Cooper walks out of the film in civilian clothing, a slightly confused expression on his face. He should have been confused. For the remainder of his life, which ended before the war he predicted, he was essentially marginalized as aviation expanded and America slowly recognized the need to build a world class air force.

Overall, for historical accuracy "The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell" is solid on the central story and fictional on the margins.

This DVD transfer, however, borders on dreadful. Colors are washed out and voice levels shift slightly over and over. But it's well worth watching.

7/10.

To Fill The Skies With American Eagles

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 12 August 2006]

Otto Preminger put together a real good cast to tell the story of The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell, considered by many to be the spiritual founder of the American Air Force. Gary Cooper was only a few years older than Billy Mitchell when he chose to publicly criticize the existing services and invite a court martial and fits the part as right as he did when playing Lou Gehrig.

What to do and who would control the airplane as a strategic weapon was a running debate even before World War I. By the time that Mitchell court martial took place in the mid Twenties, nearly every other country with the means had founded a separate Air Force. America would not have a separate Air Force until 1947 when the Army and Navy were put under one Department of Defense and an Air Force created from those members of the Army Air Corps who wished to join.

No one ever doubted the airplane had some value in war time. Those like the general Charles Bickford played who is an amalgamation of many in the service that Gary Cooper unsuccessfully dealt with, saw it as a thing for scouting, maybe transportation. Billy Mitchell saw it as far more than that.

Mitchell fought hard for money that to further develop airplanes that the Army and Navy wouldn't even ask Congress for if Congress were so disposed to give it back then. After several fliers were killed in some planes that were little more than kites with motors, Mitchell lambasted both services and got his court martial.

Military historians from then till now still debate the value of the airplane in war. The best that can be determined is that air superiority can give one an edge in a close contest. It can't win a war all by itself. If it could Great Britain would have surrendered after the blitz or Germany would have been pounded into submission by Army Air Force and RAF bombing of the place for three years, starting even before one American soldier was in ground combat.

My favorite analogy has always been the difference between the landings at Salerno in 1943 and in Normandy in 1944. In The Longest Day there's a famous scene where two airplanes take off and make a strafing run on one of the beaches and then fly away. That was the sole contribution of the Luftwaffe, by then they had no more contribution to make.

A year before at Salerno, the battle took three weeks with planes from the Allies and the Axis engaged before Allies were established. It was a close run thing as the Duke of Wellington said about another battle a century earlier. Planes do make a difference, but they're not the whole ballgame.

Billy Mitchell chose a course that finished his career in the U.S. Army. He knew it would end this way and he did it anyway. The military as an institution is resistant to change as most everyone agrees. Mitchell fought for air power and airplane development as a civilian as long as his health permitted.

Besides Cooper and Bickford the most noteworthy two performances in the film are Ralph Bellamy as Republican Congressman Frank R. Reid from Illinois who served as Mitchell's civilian defense counsel in the trial and Rod Steiger who played the hired gun from the Judge Advocate General's office who conducts a devastating cross examination of Cooper on the witness stand.

The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell is a good dramatization of one of the great criminal trials of the last century. And it's a wonderful story about sacrificing one self for an idea you believe in.

Good Movie But Incorrect History

[thomasja5 · 27 July 2003]

This movie which is supposed to be about Billy Mitchell, an early proponent of air power and of his subsequent court martial for insubordination was entertaining, but as with most Hollywood productions which are made from true stories, was filled with errors.

During the first part of the movie, Billy Mitchell allegedly violated orders by using one-ton bombs that he was told not to use. That is a falsehood. Mitchell had permission to use the heavier bombs. In addition, in the movie, the general overseeing the bombing tests was a General Guthrie. There was no such person.

The movie showed Mitchell being reduced in rank for violating orders which was another falsehood. He was reduced in rank, but not for this reason. As previously stated, Mitchell had permission to use the heavier bombs.

The movie also portrayed Mitchell as being a bachelor, when in reality, he was married. In fact, pictures of Mitchell at his court martial show his wife sitting next to him!

The movie also showed Mitchell telling Congressman Reed, that he wouldn't go along with Reed wanting to challenge Army members of the court for prejudice. In reality, Mitchell had one general removed for that reason. After his removal, the general remarked that he and Mitchell were now enemies.

Just once, I wish that Hollywood, when making a movie of a true event, would make it like it really happened and stop changing things to suit what they want the public to see.

I think the biggest mis-casting was having Gary Cooper playing Billy Mitchell. The real Billy Mitchell was a firebrand who wasn't afraid to speak his mind. Cooper, in the movie, was more laid back and just didn't impress me as being the right actor to play Mitchell.

Interesting true story

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 9 January 2007]

Gary Cooper plays the title role in "The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell," a 1955 film based on the real-life court martial of former Brigadier General William Mitchell, who was demoted in rank after violating orders and later court-martialed for criticizing the Armed Forces in the press.

Besides also starring Ralph Bellamy, Charles Bickford, and Rod Steiger, the film also features some later TV stars - Elizabeth Montgomery, Jack Lord, John Daly, Darren McGavin and Peter Graves.

Apparently the film takes some liberties with the true facts, but Mitchell believed in the power of the airplane in war and wanted an upgrade in air power for the U.S. as well as the creation of an Air Force. Much of what he said about air power came to pass, and eventually the Air Force was formed, of which he is considered the father. However, at the time, the services were faced with budget cuts and narrow thinking. They weren't convinced of Mitchell's arguments. Mitchell (in the film) disobeys orders about the size of the bomb he's carrying, using one-ton bombs to destroy the Ostfriesland, which was an World War I prize from Germany. He is demoted in rank and sent to work in Texas. When a friend of his is killed in a "death trap" flier called The Shenendoah, Billy sets himself up for a court martial so that he can bring his cause to the American public.

This is a good movie which holds one's interest. I have a confession, which is that I am not always impressed with the acting of Gary Cooper, though I do love him, and this was one of those times. One of the posters suggested that James Cagney would have been a better choice given the real-life character of Mitchell. Possibly. Cooper is passionate in a quiet way but a little too one-dimensional in his performance. There are strong performances from everyone, most especially Rod Steiger. He doesn't chew up the scenery; instead, he uses his voice like a knife. He's very effective.

Definitely recommended though it's not Cooper's best work.

Those airmen in their flying machines

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 23 January 2005]

Otto Preminger was perhaps honing his skills as a director, because this film seems to be a dress rehearsal for his greatest achievement, "Anatomy of a Murder", which is a classic of the courtroom drama genre.

The movie is interesting in that it presents a man of honor, Billy Mitchell, who not only was an aviation pioneer, but a visionary that pointed out to the future in uncanny ways. He realized that wars were going to be fought in the air, and that soon the world would shrink thanks to faster planes than the primitive two engine jobs he was flying during WWI.

Billy Mitchell was an outcast, rejected by the same people that were too obtuse to realize the upcoming revolution in aeronautics. In trying to prove a point, Billy is found guilty and tried for disobeying orders. It's a sad story in which a highly developed mind, like Billy's has to contend with the ignorance of his peers. Testimony from other leading figures of the time, such as Eddie Rickenbacker, and others speak volumes about Mitchell's incredible insight on the new technology and how vulnerable America was from air raids by enemies.

Gary Cooper's approach to the role doesn't clarify much about the real life Mitchell. He is not quite as effective as in many of his most outstanding films. Somehow we don't get any passion out of his character, where perhaps another actor would have run away with the role. Mr. Cooper's take on Mitchell, or perhaps Otto Preminger's direction, doesn't shed much insight in the character.

The best thing in the movie is Rod Steiger as Allan Gullion, who is brought to the trial to help the main prosecution officer. He steals the picture in his short time in front of the camera. Mr Steiger brings a different concept to this officer; he stands out against all the other people around him. What a presence he had! In contrast with Mr. Cooper's stoic presence, Mr. Steiger was ready to smolder the screen if given the chance.

The rest of the cast is outstanding. Charles Bickford, Ralph Bellamy, Elizabeth Montgomery, Jack Lord, James Daly, Fred Clark, among others, enhance this movie.

The only problem with the copy I saw, is the horrible coloring that tends to give a fading images. This is a film in need of restoration.

A decent film - with a mesmerising 17-minute cameo

[tohu · 7/10 · 16 April 2007]

This is a decent film, for the most part a very watchable telling of a good true story which is worth knowing about. Gary Cooper is solid in the title role (albeit he is apparently nothing like the real-life Mitchell) and the drama moves along at a reasonable pace.

But for 17 minutes towards the end it rises above that and becomes mesmerising. What makes the difference? Two words: Rod Steiger. The cross-examination scene, where he goads and scorns Cooper mercilessly, is one of those very rare moments in cinema when a performance holds the screen and burns itself into your memory. No matter how many times I have seen this film, I always spend the first hour or so waiting to relish this particular scene. And I am never disappointed.

So watch the film for two reasons: it is good in its own right. A well-played, thoughtful and dignified film about a good man who was ahead of his time. But whatever you do, make sure you don't miss the last half-hour!

Despite misgivings of the Mitchell family, it's still a good film.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 26 January 2019]

Apparently, the Mitchell family was not particularly pleased with this film. Some of it was because the star, Gary Cooper, was nothing like Mitchell...neither in temperament nor size. Still, it is a reasonably good movie...one worth seeing.

The story is about Billy Mitchell, an Army officer who deliberately sacrificed his own career because he strongly felt the military was unfairly discounting air warfare. For example, in some tests, his superiors deliberately rigged the procedings to make the airplanes seem ineffective against naval ships. So, to prove his point, he ordered his men to make a more realistic attack...which resulted in his demotion. Still, he pressed until ultimately he was court martialed for insubbordination. This film is about the events leading up to this trial and a major portion of the film is a recreation of the trial.

Considering I am a retired history teacher, I am thrilled that this forgotten period in history hasn't been completely ignored. While a few things here and there were altered for cinematic reasons, it generally sticks to the facts...something unusual for Hollywood. Overall, it's also pretty compelling and worth your time.

good period movie

[plparshall · 7/10 · 16 December 2006]

Don't look for for exacting factual screenplay here, rather enjoy Gary Cooper's sensitive acting. I agree it runs more like a play and in that sense is done very well and all the actors perform well. Half the fun of this movie is watching the younger supporting cast and identifying the future stars of Hawaii FiveO, Bewitched, The Nightstalker, and a few others I haven't figured out yet. You'll see better than half the supporting cast on the situational comedies of the 1950's. The cross examination scene with Rod Steiger and Gary Cooper is pretty good too. As much as I like Gary Cooper it would have been interesting, and probably a better movie, to see Cagney as Mitchell.

Excellent Production

[drdyer · 9/10 · 13 September 2002]

Too add to the comments already made in this database I would like to point out that viewers seem to forget that the testimony in the film by Major Hap Arnold, Captain Eddie Rickenbaker, Major Karl Spatz and Fiorello LaGuardia substantiated Colonel Mitchell's facts.

As for whether the court-martial did what it intended to do, obviously it did not in Pearl Harbor's case, however, it may have helped development of better aircraft and aircraft carriers during the 30's, especially when one considers this was during a depression.

What could have been brought to light was the complacency of the public at the time, roaring 20's, etc.. Also the public's isolationist outlook.

At any rate, General Mitchell will always be a hero to airmen, along with General Hap Arnold and others.

A little on the turgid side

[MOscarbradley · 6/10 · 11 February 2018]

Otto Preminger's "The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell" isn't that well known and it's easy to see why. It's something of a dull history lesson about the court-martial of a former general, demoted to colonel for disobeying orders and now charged with accusing the powers-that-be with criminal intent for their disregard of a fledgling airforce. Mitchell himself is played by Gary Cooper, looking stiff in his uniform, and old-timers Ralph Bellamy and Charles Bickford are the men for and against him. Rod Stieger is also on hand, lending the film a touch of gravitas as a hotshot army lawyer, a role George C Scott would play in Preminger's much better contribution to the courtroom drama, "Anatomy of a Murder". Preminger shoots the film in widescreen and visually it is impressive but it's also more than a little on the turgid side.

A riveting historical court martial

[millerbillies1987 · 8/10 · 5 December 2005]

This movie portrays a riveting historical account that tells the story of a visionary of his era who was wrongfully convicted of speaking his mind and not obeying military policy and procedure of the time. After the movie ended, I was immediately compelled to "google" Colonel Billy Mitchell and learn more about his court-martial. Movies like this are intriguing due to the fact that most people of the modern day do not remember, nor have ever been schooled in military history. Billy Mitchell's accounts and rationale for putting himself in the "hot seat" for the good of out country, despite having the knowledge that in doing so he'd undergo a court-martial, are commendable and honorable. Historically, time has told the truth and validated and, in my mind, vindicated Colonel Mitchell. His vision has led to the creation of the greatest Air Force the world will ever know.

I was disappointed in this given my high expectations

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 24 January 2023]

This is a CinemaScope military drama from Warner Brothers and director Otto Preminger. Gary Cooper stars as US Army Brigadier General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer in the air service during WW1. After the end of that war he set out to establish a permanent military aviation division, what would eventually become the US Air Force, despite the dismissals and protestations of older military brass. These disagreements lead to first Mitchell's demotion, and eventually to official charges and a much-publicized court-martial after Mitchell made disparaging comments in the press about the military's lack of aviation management. Also featuring Elizabeth Montgomery in her debut.

I was looking forward to this one and was disappointed in it. I'm a fan of Cooper's, and have defended him and his oft-disparaged acting abilities on this message board more than once. But in this film he is just plain awful, frequently unconvincing in his line deliveries, and failing to illuminate the man he's playing in the least. I've read that even Mitchell's family were disappointed in Cooper's casting, and said that 1955-era James Cagney was much closer to the real man. Cooper's lackluster performance could have been alleviated a bit by a sharper script or tighter direction, neither of which is present here.

The first half of the film kind of lumbers along from anecdote to anecdote before finally settling in during the second half as an uninspired courtroom drama. Prominently billed Rod Steiger, soon after his On the Waterfront Oscar nomination, doesn't show up until late in the proceedings as an assistant prosecutor, and it's interesting to see how both he and Cooper give bad performances but of completely different sorts, and I say this as a fan of both men. The movie nabbed an Oscar nomination for Best Writing, Story & Screenplay (Milton Sperling and Emmet Lavery.

Complex and original courtroom drama.(possible spoilers)

[the red duchess · 5/10 · 26 February 2001]

'Court-Martial' belongs to that most uncinematic of sub-genres, the courtroom drama, the masterpiece of which, 'Anatomy of a Murder', was also directed by Otto Preminger. The epithet 'genre' is justified in that the courtroom drama has developed its own ritualistic codes, plots and characters as much as the gangster film or the musical - the brilliant, bullying prosecutor; the weak, inarticulate defence; the verbal battle-of-wills between lawyers presided over by a petulant judge; the grandiloquent speeches; the playing to the gallery; the last-minute crucial piece of evidence or overlooked witness etc.

All are present and correct here, if not to the entertaining degree of 'Anatomy' or Wilder's 'Witness for the Prosecution'; Gary Cooper is not the man for epigrammatic fireworks. The courtroom drama is a way of airing debates, often of topical interest; or the revealing, or otherwise, of the workings of democracy as enshrined in its legal system. In such a set-up, the semiotic philosophies of Derrida and Barthes seem to have no place; words, easily spoken, are not yet emasculated, and have the power to bully and distort, as well as being a proven vehicle for decency.

But words have to be linked to character. Gullion may be brilliant, but he emerges, in narrative terms, from nowhere, we know nothing about him; his narrative rootlessness robs his words of moral value. Cooper/Mitchell may not be the most graceful of rhetoricians, but both Cooper's four-decade proven persona, and our access to Mitchell's backstory contrive to give weight to his words, and a moral, if not verbal, eloquence.

Yet the courtroom drama here shows the spirit of democracy - revealed not only in its legal system, but in its military - to be Pharisaic. The good man who wants to save lives, the patriot who wants to defend America is dishonoured, stripped of his livelihood and means of subsistence, found guilty. The film shakes with the wagging finger of hindsight, where the mad predictions of an insubordinate visionary have proven to be accurate, and the military establishment everything he accused them of, complacent, negligent, dangerously narrow.

This kind of 'debate' risks seeming sterile, academic, uninteresting - we know Mitchell's right, and the army are blind; where's the conflict? But this is a Preminger film, and therefore more than a courtroom drama. The casting of Cooper is crucial. Like 'The Right Stuff', this film about the military is in actual fact negatively imbued with the spirit of the Western. Cooper, so often Man of the West, ranging the open spaces, embodying American values, now faces the modern world, and finds frontiers closed as he is hemmed in by bureaucracy. The individualistic spirit of adventure, risk, progress is no more, replaced by decision by committee (surely Preminger's metaphor for Hollywood).

Mitchell may be the film's moral centre, but he is a sick man, a weak, passive transgressor, who is made to look stupid and helpless by the new rules of Machiavellian system-playing. The film, made in the mid-1950s, reveals how the founding spirit of America is being smothered by the new conformity - linking the military intransigence here to ex-General Eisenhower's America. The presence of Rod Steiger, fresh from 'On The Waterfront', also reminds us of another recent, prominent showtrial, the McCarthy purges. But, although the film is impeccably anti-military, -bureaucracy and -conformist, it questions that founding spirit, suggesting that such individualism always had something a little mad and sick in it.

That's about all I can say about the film, because I saw it in a dreadful pan-and-scan version. Content is only ever a minor part of any film, so I don't know how Preminger treated his theme visually, only intellectually; which means I didn't really see it at all, although I liked the idea of the courtroom-in-a-warehouse wall being the same khaki colour as the soldiers' uniforms. Great to see the godlike Elizabeth Montgomery in a rare Hollywood role, very cute and young; maybe she should have wrinkled her nose at the script.

Good Intro for the Air Force

[icu2rjb · 15 December 2004]

In the USAF we were taught about Billy Mitchell as being the "Father of the Air Force", and how he sacrificed his career to bring attention to his points.

What a good movie. Rod Steiger did steal the scenes, and I suspect that James Cagney would have made a better movie... but I found myself becoming drawn in by Gary Cooper's portrayal of Billy Mitchell. He might have been a bit long in the tooth, but remember, the real Billy Mitchell was 46 years old at the time of his Court Martial, at about the age when he should start thinking about retirement anyhow.

It plays like a stage play; the story is enough to make a powerful punch.

2 Thumbs Up. See it. Get it on DVD if you can, so you can read the subtitles and not miss a thing.

Billy Mitchell, prognosticator, martyr?

[hitchcockthelegend · 6/10 · 28 November 2008]

The first World War had just ended in total victory for the United States and its Allies. Now war was a thing of the past, America disbanded its army and stabled its navy, its air force was still an unwanted child. In 1921 off the coast of Virginia, the high command of the army and navy gathered to consider a revolutionary experiment.

William Mitchell was a controversial and famous character in American aviation history, his beliefs and future ideas as regards the importance and advancement of aviation in war got him into so much trouble it culminated in the Court Martial of the title. Though this Otto Preminger directed telling is not completely accurate in its history lesson, it is however (thanks to Gary Cooper's excellent portrayal) an excellent depiction of the man and his staunch nature. Naturally the picture is reliant on long pieces of dialogue, so really if anyone is after a blitzkrieg type war film then they should steer well clear, for this is a lesson in letting talking lead the way, and thus opening the door for the actors to do their respective stuff. Rod Steiger (solid if dangerously close to mugging too much), Ralph Bellamy, Charles Bickford and Elizabeth Montgomery round out the cast with varying degrees of success, but really it's with Gary Cooper that the films borders on success or failure, thankfully he comes thru with a fine line of sympathetic emotion that lifts the piece just above being middle of the road. 6/10

Billy's Day in Court

[richardchatten · 6/10 · 10 June 2022]

With a title like that you know what to expect. The last film Otto Preminger made as a director for hire is handsome and well mounted but extremely talky. But it's worth sitting through for Rod Steiger's sarcastic prosecuting council, and has the distinction of containing the big screen's only depiction to date of Calvin Coolidge.

The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 14 November 2022]

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!

Undemanding Biography

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 14 December 2006]

I find it kind of enjoyable in a smooth, Hollywood kind of way. Billy Mitchell did go through the various experiences we see on screen, only not in the particular details shown. The deck is stacked in favor of Gary Cooper as the hero, Billy Mitchell.

I read a reasonably balanced biography of Mitchell some years ago and he didn't come across as the idealistic firebrand we see on screen. Rather, as I remember it, he had married well and was something of a social aristocrat, which isn't bad in itself.

The story's probably familiar. Mitchell is an advocate of air power and, against orders, blows a test battleship out of the water with out-sized 2,000 pound bombs. For this he's sent to Siberia in Texas. When his friend in killed in an airship accident and other friends expire in a cross-country flight, he makes a public announcement accusing the War Department of being "criminally negligent" and "almost treasonable." For this he gets a court martial, found guilty, and is cashiered.

He was evidently correct about a number of things. The day of the battleship was limited. The majority lost by all sides in World War II were sunk by airplanes. No air force ever used 2,000 pound bombs though, with one exception (the Tirpitz) to sink them. Nor did air supremacy ever win a war by itself. Not in World War II -- and not since then.

The best scene -- both the most dramatic and the most unintentionally comic -- is the court martial scene. Every participant in the trial has a single dimension. There are the good guys and the bad guys. The bad guys are winning at the start but the tide turns and they lose. The last witness is Mitchell himself. He not only has to undergo the agonizing ordeal of being cross-examined by a particularly slimy and sarcastic Rod Steiger but he must be suffering from an attack of malaria at the same time. Man, does he suffer. He keeps a handkerchief to his face, patting away the sweat.

I don't recall from his biography whether Mitchell actually made the predictions attributed to him by the film. They include a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by planes from aircraft carriers 150 miles off the Hawaiian coast. The enemy will be the Japanese. He also calls for the Air Force as an independent branch of the armed forces. This is, like, 1927, mind you. Steiger keeps making snotty references to Mitchell's "crystal ball." A friend and I made up outrageous Mitchell predictions that might have been cut from the script. The Finns will build an undersea tunnel and fly airplanes that will come out of a Washington sewer and bomb the White House, and so forth. Well -- who knows? Anyway I get a kick out of it. Worth catching if you don't care much about historical accuracy.

Oh -- and Kids, in 1941 the Japanese actually DID do what Billy Mitchell said they would. It began what we call "World War II." PS: We won.

Technically very good, historically poor1

[gealto · 7/10 · 17 April 2005]

This is a very technically good film, with interesting casting and scripting, but it is far from the truth historically. Being from the Milwaukee Wisconsin area, I did some research into the history of this man, and found it very different from the Hollywood depiction.

The Generals insubordination was more about his arrogance and ego than any caring about the future. He was a spoiled rich brat who always had things his way. The changes that came in aviation would have came without his infamous courtroom case. He was the exact opposite of the Gary Cooper portrayal, being short and angry in nature.

He sacrificed his military career because he cared so much about the fliers? Questionable at best. This rich kid was tired of playing soldier, so went on a public opinion campaign, that was somewhat successful in giving him a role in the history of aviation.

He was very effective at alienating everyone around him. There are numerous histories of this man, polarized either in the he was a visionary versus a pompous self righteous jerk, all making good reading.

Great Film

[rspress · 8/10 · 28 September 2005]

While Gary Cooper was not anything like Billy Mitchell in the film that really does not matter. What does matter is that in his time he was fighting for an Air Force that would be able to defend America. He was right that at the time the armed services use of air power and the safety of the pilots was criminal, the number of Air Forces bases named for the people that died during this time can attest to that. He was also correct that the armed forces would depend on air power, a fact the armed forces ignored until nearly 1939 when Hitler proved what a modern air force could do. If it were not for the fact that private companies like Boeing were developing planes before the military were asking for them would could have been fighting the first year of WWII in biplanes.

While many of Billy Mitchell's claims may have seemed absurd at the time the showed quite an insight of how air power would develop over the next 50 years.

That being said do catch this film. The cast is top notch and their performances leave you feeling sorry for Cooper and hating Rod Stieger! This is one of my top 20 films not only for the cast and crew but for the subject matter.

The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell review

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 13 May 2020]

The true story of an American General who was court-martialled over his complaints about the treatment of the US's aerial forces that only really takes flight during the actual court-martial scenes. The cast is a mix of distinguished names (Cooper, Bickford, Bellamy) and young bucks (Steiger, Graves, Lord and McGavin), with TV's witch Tabitha (Elizabeth Montgomery) making her screen debut. An earnest but largely unmemorable effort from Otto Preminger.

Excellente !

[escaparc-1 · 10/10 · 25 January 2007]

1st of all ...

you need to realize what exactly sank the greatest battleship that ever so briefly sailed the sea was the German Bismark sunk a year before the attack on Pearl Harbor even happened --- they were WWI biplane torpedo dive bomber in a last ditch desperation attack flying off an English carrier by disabling the battleship's rudder control thereby demonstrating the point that Gen Mithchell was trying to make !

Next ...

I saw Billy Mitchell in a mid 30's news reel - pretty much in the Chuck Yaeger - Gary Cooper style - if I remember correctly - sitting back in khakis - cane at his side - " What I've been fired for - predicting the aviation dynamics of the next war - the devastation of - civilian targets - cities - the enemy nations industrial capacity to fight wars - WHEN THE NEXT WAR STARTS THE HEADS ARE GOING TO ROLL - what I have gone through will be nothing in comparison ! "

What the movie got right so dramatically ... a poetic Hollywood license --- was when citizen Mitchell walked out from his court martial trial there was a propeller biplane fly - bye which turned into the Air Force JET Thunderbirds that the movie ended on !

My thoughts on all this is America will be secretly attacked again and again - unprepared - coward into protracted generational conflicts due to the public's unwillingness to see the problem - get the job done !

Clock punchers - pencil pushers - paper shufflers - war criminals - incompetents !

Thank God for men like Billy Mitchell !

Conflict of Duties

[JamesHitchcock · 7/10 · 10 January 2024]

William "Billy" Mitchell (1879- 1936) was one of America's leading air aces in World War I. He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, and after the war became an advocate of air power, believing that aircraft would be the decisive weapon in future wars. In 1921 he demonstrated his theories by using aerial bombing to sink the German battleship Ostfriesland, transferred to the US under the terms of the Versailles peace treaty. He advocated the creation of a separate US Air Force, similar to the British RAF created in 1918, and became increasingly disillusioned with the Army top brass, which was keeping the Air Service starved of funds.

Mitchell was particularly outraged by the deaths of his close friend Zachary Lansdowne in the crash of the airship USS Shenandoah and of six of his wartime colleagues in another disaster. These tragedies led him to make harsh criticisms to the press of the Army and Navy's attitude towards air power. As a result, he was reduced in rank to colonel and eventually court-martialled for insubordination. The first half of the film tells Mitchell's story, the second deals with the court-martial itself.

What comes out from this film is how prescient Mitchell was. It is unlikely that if a major war had been fought in 1925, the year of his court-martial, air power would have been the decisive factor, any more than it had been in 1914-18. Mitchell, however, foresaw that aeroplane technology would continue to evolve rapidly and that soon aircraft would be an all-important component in the military forces of every nation. He even predicted a Japanese airborne attack on Pearl Harbor, a prediction which was to come true in 1941, five years after his death. (He, however, predicted that the attacking planes would be launched from the Japanese mainland; the capabilities of aircraft carriers seem to have progressed even more rapidly than he anticipated).

Mitchell's family were, apparently, not happy with the choice of Gary Cooper to play him in this movie. Cooper was considerably taller than the real Mitchell and played him with his normal calm, laconic demeanour, whereas Mitchell had been notoriously quick-tempered. Their suggestion of James Cagney for the role might have made for an interesting drama. I suspect, however, that the film-makers went for Cooper precisely because the film is very favourable to him and they wanted to show him as sympathetic; if he had been played as aggressive and hot-tempered this might have increased sympathy for his opponents, who are generally shown as stubborn and reactionary. (One of Mitchell's supporters says that "The Navy hasn't got any policy on flying, they are ignoring the aeroplane in hopes that it will just go away").

I thought, in fact, that Cooper played the part very well. Another strong point is an intelligent script, which earned the scriptwriters Milton Sperling and Emmet Lavery an Oscar nomination for Best Story and Screenplay. A film dealing with questions of military strategy and defence policy from thirty years earlier could easily have become boring. In Sperling and Lavery's hands, and those of director Otto Preminger, "The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell" instead becomes a fascinating and intelligent drama, looking at the question of what a soldier should do when his duty to his superior officers conflicts with what he sees as his wider duty to his country. 7/10

A goof. Contrary to what is stated in the film, the Ostfriesland was not an unsinkable modern super-battleship, and nobody in 1921 believed it to be one. It was an old ship of an obsolete design, which is why it was used as a target in naval exercises rather than being commissioned into the US fleet.

The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell

[henry8-3 · 4/10 · 27 October 2021]

True (ish) story with Cooper in the titular role of Mitchell who as a Brigadier General goes public on his knowledge of the scant attention the armed forces are giving air power as a means of national defence.

Ok drama driven pretty much exclusively by the need for everyone's favourite screen hero Coop to have his say in court. Hence you spend most of the film waiting for this, which when it arrives is slightly disappointing, hampered in part by a rather dour turn by Cooper. Ralph Bellamy is a bit theatrical and effete as the defence and indeed Steiger delivers another of his famous scenery chewing performances as the prosecution. Watchable.