THE COURT-MARTIAL OF BILLY MITCHELL (1955) C widescreen 100m dir: Otto Preminger

w/Gary Cooper, Charles Bickford, Ralph Bellamy, Rod Steiger, Elizabeth Montgomery, Fred Clark, James Daly, Jack Lord, Peter Graves, Darren McGavin

From Variety's contemporary review of the film: "Dealing with real-life events of 1925, the subject matter spotlights something which is always present tense, namely, official rigidity, red tape and intellectual hardening of the arteries in the brains of aging bureaucrats.

"The picture is a real kick in the shins for the cult of blind military obedience and the lesson which is laid on the line relates to Pearl Harbor. The picture shows Mitchell predicting the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, and describing American vulnerability, all this 16 years before that catastrophic Sunday and in the presence of [General] Douglas MacArthur.

"The main trouping is by Gary Cooper, Ralph Bellamy as a congressman counsel with yellow journalistic instincts, Charles Bickford, Fred Clark and Rod Steiger. All are standouts in professionalism though this is a writer's, not an actor's, picture."

From The Movie Guide: "Yup, low-key and earnest but slow like molasses. Courtroom drama features Coop as the visionary and much-maligned Billy Mitchell who, in 1925, was placed on secret military trial for accusing the Army of being unprepared for invasion and predicting a US bombing by the Japanese. There's not much action aside from the courtroom antics, but the Oscar-nominated Milton Sperling-Emmett Lavery screenplay and the powerful and dignified performance of Cooper might hold you until Steiger's late entrance as a hateful prosecutor sparks proceedings. The many real-life figures --- General Douglas MacArthur, Fiorello La Guardia, Admiral William S. Sims, Major Carl Spaatz, President Calvin Coolidge, Major Hap Arnold, General John J. Pershing --- are portrayed as walking monuments. Curiously, the film was photographed in CinemaScope, presumably to make the static visuals more cinematic."