People are voting emotionally.

An absolute waste of money

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

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.

Now available on an Olive Films DVD, this movie is a pretty faithful account of Colonel Billy Mitchell's fight against the army and his well-publicized court martial for daring to speak out against and condemn senior officers who were ordering young pilots to their deaths in planes that had no right to be sitting in hangars let alone flying high in the skies. Despite the fact that it's rather static, the court martial itself is the highlight of the movie – especially with the surprise appearance of a young Rod Steiger who takes over the role of cross-examiner. Gary Cooper is okay, but somewhat muted as Mitchell. I always thought Mitchell was much more of a fire-eater than the rather gentle if stubborn character that Cooper and the scriptwriters let loose. By way of contrast, Fred Clark tends to over-act as the chief prosecutor. All told, this bio rates as a creditable re-enactment that holds the interest for 100 minutes despite a somewhat static script and rather disappointingly dull direction from Otto Preminger.

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.

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.