King and Country

A FILM BY Joseph Losey

Synopsis

During World War I, a young soldier, Hamp, deserts his post, attempting to escape the ever-present sound of guns and walk home. Captain Hargreaves, an aristocratic and British Army lawyer must defend Hamp before the army tribunal, for whom the crime of desertion carries a nasty stigma and the penalty of execution. Initially, Hargreaves approaches Hamp's case with disdain; however, upon learning that Hamp volunteered for duty on a dare, that he is the sole survivor of his unit, and that his wife has been unfaithful in his absence, his efforts on Hamp's behalf become more impassioned and earnest. Faced with the unfeeling face of the army bureaucracy, Hargreaves's arguments fall on deaf ears as Hamp becomes a tool of morale boosting on the eave of the troop's dispersal into an impending bloody battle.

Genre: Drama, War
Running Time: 80 mins.
Year: 1964

CREDITS

CAST

Dirk Bogarde

Leo Mckern

Tom Courtenay

DIRECTED BY

Joseph Losey