On a World War I battleground, British soldier Tom Courtenay (as Arthur Hamp) is arrested for desertion, after serving three years in combat. If convicted, the shell-shocked young man will be shot dead. He is assigned a military defense attorney Dirk Bogarde (as Hargreaves) who seems convinced Mr. Courtenay is guilty. However, as the trenches trial proceeds, Mr. Bogarde becomes more sympathetic regarding his client's extenuating circumstances. "King and Country" will either spare Courtenay, or kill him...

Producer/director Joseph Losey does a convincing job with this drama, though it moves somewhat slowly until the end. Courtenay comes across as a shell-shocked man who volunteered for the war, and could no longer do battle after seeing his entire unit wasted away. He's commendable and understandable, and this shows in Bogarde's astute performance. The film's point is easily made, with Bogarde's character effectively leading doubters toward a shattering conclusion. The film, and both men, won award recognition.

******* King & Country (9/5/64) Joseph Losey ~ Dirk Bogarde, Tom Courtenay, Leo McKern, Barry Foster

"King & Country" is a film about a man who deserted from his unit during WWI. After over three years of fighting, the naive young man had frankly had enough and began walking home from France. Considering he grew up in Britain, he seemed either a bit dumb or just so psychologically damaged that the impossibility of his task eluded him. In many ways, this film is reminiscent of the exceptional Stanley Kubrick film "Paths of Glory"--about an entire unit of French soldiers who simply refused to fight due to the utter stupidity and waste of life of this so-called 'Great War'. In fact, both would make an excellent double-feature.

The film begins with an officer (Dirk Bogarde) being asked to defend a deserter. It's obvious that he assumes the man is guilty and deserves to be executed and is doing this only out of obligation. As for the deserter (Tom Courtenay), he is an odd fellow. While he obviously was brave for volunteering and fighting in so many god-awful battles, his reaction to all this is a bit odd--like he doesn't fully appreciate the horrible predicament he's in at this time. He seems guileless and naive.

As far as the trial goes, you know that the court must find him guilty and execute him, lest they admit that the war was a horrible mistake--futile and an atrocity upon the people....and they certainly were not about to admit that. It is simply preordained and Bogarde seems to have little care about the doomed man--he is only doing it out of obligation--even after he gets to know the man and pleads his case. Only towards the very end of the story do we see Bogarde regard the man as anything other than a coward--and then the accumulated horror of the war and its stupidity is revealed. However, at the same time, the momentum of the film slows down to a crawl--and the film unfortunately ends with a bit of a fizzle. Overall, it's quite good in some ways but just barely misses the mark.