Watch King and Country For Free

Thanks for the memories!

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Joseph Losey's King And Country (1964) Is a very good film. Although one might justifiably place it in some such genre as War I Films, such a taxonomic pigeon hole really doesn't do justice to this rather complex film.This is clearly a film about class divisions in Great Britain, with the much educated, upper class officers passing judging on a lowly private charged with desertion, a lowly private who tells his upper crust military defense attorney that he quit school at 12 years old to become a cobbler, just like his father and grandfather before him.It is a film about a long ago war when the full nature and extent of combat PTSD was not known, nor so much a concern of the officers in charge.This is a film about a lowly working class stiff who volunteered for the army for love of country, very early on the war and, after enduring three years of relentless battle amidst the horrors of the trenches, wasn't given a "break", a second chance after the first blemish on his record.This is a film about a military defense attorney, portraying the staid and "proper" British upper class demeanor, and just assuming that his client is guilty even before the trial has begun who, in the course successive personal contacts with his client undergoes somewhat of a transformation of personality and character, as the story of his client's "desertion" becomes an analogue in his mind for the futility of the Great War, a futility that neither side was willing to admit, while more and more young men were sent to their slaughter in a vain attempt to just to obscure the obvious truth of that futility.This is a film about "just following orders", of "just following the rules", even when such blind obedience to such verbal prescriptions blinds us also to the utter humanity of the situation at hand.The sober BW cinematography in this film relentlessly grinds these themes into our souls, as it gives us unrelenting shots of a mud drenched, claustrophobic environment, where it never stops raining, and where this bleak, hopeless atmosphere is punctuated by archival still photos that give us a close up, "in your face" look at the actual horrors of trench warfare.This film is a quite compelling, and thought provoking portrayal of not only WW I, but also of the utter senselessness of fighting any war whatsoever.

Memorable but Overshadowed by Bigger more Expansive WWI Anti-War Movies like Paths of Glory (1957) and Others going as Far Back as 1930 with All Quiet on the Western Front, this is Nonetheless a Striking Example of a Filmed Play Using Still Photos and some Subtle but Effective Cinema Techniques like Dissolves.It is a Downbeat Affair that one would Expect from such Material and the Comedic Touches of the Bored and Drenched Trench Combatants Playing with Rats makes more of a Pathetic Statement about the Mental Disintegration of All the Soldiers and not just the Ones who Snap and go for a Walk back to England.The Film doesn't say Anything New on the Futility or the Mismanagement of the War to End All Wars, but Rather Reiterates the Ridiculousness of an On Field Court Martial with Little Substance to Prosecute on Hand as Everyone on Both Sides of the Mock Trial tries to Verbalize that which No Words can Describe.The Movie has Many Touches of Symbolism and the Final Scene is Unforgettable. The Movie was Mostly Forgotten but has been Rediscovered along with a Newfound Appreciation for Director Joseph Losey's Work. He is one of the those that Contemporaneously was Ignored but has since Gained a Cult Following.

One of the best stage-to-film adaptions ever.Made in black-and-white it captures the futility and claustrophobia of life in the trenches in World War One like no other film. It also gives compelling insights into the British class system.This is a 'must see' film for all genuine students of the medium.

This is a grim portrayal of trench warfare and an officer corps seeking to "set an example" by trying a soldier suffering from battle fatigue for desertion. He has attempted to walk home from France to England after enduring the death of his entire battallion from constant shelling and futile attacks. Scenes shifting from inside the trial and outside in the camp underscore the futility of war and its effects on the men who fight.