Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
... all the tunes of glory, 25 Aug 2004
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. 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 - 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.
|
|
|
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A battle of two remarkable men, 23 Sep 2006
This film explores the relationship between acting commanding officer Major Jock Sinclair (Alec Guinness) and his replacement Colonel Barrow (John Mills) in a Scottish regiment battalion; not just in their personalities but also their background and the ideas they stand for. Jock Sinclair is the former pipe boy who has worked his way up from both the back streets and the ranks through distinguished service in Africa in the Second World War. He stands for tradition, looking people in the eye and speaking his mind. Colonel Barrow also stands for tradition, but in another sense. His grandfather and great grandfather had both been commanding officers of the battalion and Barrow desperately wants to succeed and surpass them. After a spell as a subaltern (lieutenant) straight from university, he left the battalion for war service apparently not at the front line, although he ended up in a prisoner of war camp nonetheless. He sees his role as being to improve the battalion's professionalism and to introduce conduct and custom more befitting an army in peacetime, often coming into conflict with Jock's 'tradition' in the process.
Both characters are flawed, and obviously so - Jock with his drinking and bullying and Barrow with his insecurity. But as the film goes on the flaws and virtues of the two become blurred, Barrow controls his insecurity well, but then appears as much a bully as Jock, and Jock shows weaknesses which he is less able to control. Whilst much of the film is more sympathetic to Jock, by the end it is less clear who has the better qualities as both sink towards breakdown.
The film is gripping because the two main characters are so richly developed and so extraordinarily well acted. John Mills won an award for his performance and deservedly so, but it is Alec Guinness who stands out in my opinion. In fact, the first time I saw this film, I hadn't realised it was Alec Guinness acting until the end credits! Many of the lesser characters also have well developed personalities and are played by a fine supporting cast, although I am not sure Dennis Price gives the full range of character that the rather enigmatic Major Scott requires.
Although the film is set almost entirely inside the barracks there is no feeling of claustrophobia. Much of the action takes place outside in the cold and snow accompanied by a soundtrack of shouted orders, marching and of course the music of pipes and drums.
The Criterion DVD is of very high quality - a mildly intrusive vertical bar which apparently could not be removed appears for eight minutes but otherwise the picture is perfect. The interview with director Ronald Neame is particularly illuminating and he describes Tunes of Glory as the film he is most proud of having made.
The DVD is All Region encoded, not just Region 1, so buyers in the UK with digital screens should have no hesitation in purchasing it. However it is probably in NTSC format which might not play correctly on analogue PAL televisions.
|
|
|
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Collision Course, 26 Jul 2008
"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 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 any other actor 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 pipe all the tunes of glory that accompany the cinematic narrative, and fully epitomize the "Idea" of the Regiment.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
![Tunes Of Glory [DVD] [1960]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51CYZuagGzL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Tunes of Glory [DVD] [1960] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511RAB1P2BL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Madeleine [DVD] [1949]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51gk%2BP5nyIL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![The Horse's Mouth [DVD] [1958] [US Import]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51uH1wuGWjL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![Ice Cold In Alex [DVD] [1958]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51LZJY-PtXL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie [DVD] [1969] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51KJJ1M53YL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![Il Grido [Masters of Cinema] [DVD] [1957]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Cws51xirL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
With an Amazon.co.uk 
