Tunes of Glory [DVD]

Trouble at Stirling Castle when new Regiment commander (John Mills) arrives to take command and clashes with Jock Sinclair (Alec Guiness) All superbly filmed and directed by Ronald Neame, incidentally no location filming at either Stirling or Edinburgh apart from an exterior shot of Stirling Castle briefly at the beginning and end of the film, otherwise all filmed at the backlot at Sheperton and very convincing it is too. The acting is nothing short of brilliant and the story gripping, modern filmakers please take note of how good script and performances are everything! The transfer to DVD is pretty good from existing material. There is a thin faint dark bar that appears for 8 minutes as has been mentioned in other reviews, I have heard this is damage to the original neg and difficult to put right, the film is nearly 50 years old so I am not going to let that small glitch detract from my enjoyment of the film.

"Tunes of Glory" tells the story of what happens when the proverbial irresistible force meets the immovable object. Alec Guinness in the persona of Major Jock Sinclair represents the former, and John Mills represents the latter in the role of Lt. Colonel Basil Barrow, who is sent to replace Sinclair as permanent Colonel of a Scottish battalion. Sinclair is a popular former Pipe Major who has risen up through the ranks because of his heroism in the desert campaign of El Alamein in World War II. Barrow, whom Jock belittles, calling him "Barrow Boy", is the antithesis: a graduate of Eton and Oxford, he is descended from a long line of colonels who have themselves commanded the same battalion. Barrow has therefore inherited the "Idea" of the regiment, while Sinclair has grown up at its heart and has grafted himself onto what he considers its spirit.

I cannot recall two other actors who are so well matched in equality of strength. One gets the feeling that if anyone else had been cast in only one of the respective leading roles, either Guinness or Mills would have dominated that unfortunate actor. But these two giants are equipollent in ability. Furthermore, they have a history of acting together. Guinness was outstanding as Herbert Pocket (his first role) in Dickens' "Great Expectations" where he played alongside of John Mills, who portrayed Pip. In "Kind Hearts and Coronets," Guinness also worked with Dennis Price who, in "Tunes", plays Major Charles Scott, whose motives are as enigmatic as he is aristocratic. Jock never tires of addressing him mockingly as "Old Boy!" And although Charlie seems to tolerate Jock's japes good-naturedly to a point, when the tension between Jock Sinclair and Basil Barrow explodes, Charlie's motives become ambiguously opaque.

The excellent ensemble cast includes Kay Walsh as Jock's actress and "bit on the side"; Gordon Jackson as Captain Jimmy Cairns, the only man who really tries to understand the difficulties of both antagonists; and the incomparable Duncan Macrae as the sympathetic Pipe Major MacLean.

Ronald Neame's direction is superb, and the disc includes a fascinating interview with him about the making of the film and his warm relationship with the actors. The cinematography captures the essence (or what convinced me was the essence, since I have no personal knowledge thereof) of the officers' quarters: gothic elegance downstairs--the great fireplace and tall leaded windows; the paneled dining hall with its regimental silver; and Spartan rudiments upstairs in the sleeping quarters. The dour grey skies and the powdering of snow outside seem to exacerbate the tensions and jealousies inside that not even the fire crackling in the immense grate can dispel.

A star of the film is certainly the piping and the precision marching of the splendidly kilted highland pipers, who play all the tunes of glory that accompany the cinematic narrative. They fully epitomize the "Idea" of the Regiment.

With unforgettable performances by Alec Guinness (who reckoned it one of his best) and John Mills, both playing against type, this film ought to be more widely known and revered today. Its issue on DVD in the UK (an American version has been available for several years) is, I hope, a step in that direction. There are some technical blemishes visible in the Region 1 edition on which my review is based, so I presume both versions were taken from the same source. It doesn't greatly mar viewing, in my opinion.

Superbly constructed, with an unforgettably painful and poignant climax as Guinness's character faces up to the enormity of what he has done, Tunes of Glory - as its director says in an accompanying interview (also in the UK edition? - transcends its time.

What gives it its power is that the specifics of a particular culture (in a Scottish regiment) are made clear - so you are made to recognise what's at stake with each new development in the growing personality clash and power struggle between Guinness and Mills.

James Kennaway, who wrote the screenplay based on his own novel, knew that world, and Ronald Neame had him on hand to advise. Neame does his job in an unshowy but effective way, so you can focus, as he wished, on the acting, and there's a wonderful accompanying cast, too, with Dennis Price and Gordon Jackson especially notable. The final scene is beyond words.