Tunes of Glory (1960)

Director:

Ronald Neame

Writers:

James Kennaway (novel)
James Kennaway (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 December 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Colonel Jock Sinclair drank with his officers...and sang and danced with them...until that day when a shot rang out AND HE STOOD ALONE!

Plot:

Major Jock Sinclair has been in this Highland regiment since he joined as a boy piper. During the Second World War...

Plot Keywords:

Regiment | Colonel | Major | Commanding Officer | Second In Command

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 6 nominations

Cast

Alec Guinness	...	Maj. Jock Sinclair, D.S.O., M.M.
John Mills	...	Lt. Col. Basil Barrow (Battalion Commander)
Dennis Price	...	Maj. Charles 'Charlie' Scott, M.C. (Battalion Executive Officer)
Kay Walsh	...	Mary Titterington
John Fraser	...	Cpl. Piper Ian Fraser
Susannah York	...	Morag Sinclair
Gordon Jackson	...	Capt. Jimmy Cairns, M.C. (Battalion Adjutant)
Duncan Macrae	...	Pipe Maj. Duncan MacLean
Percy Herbert	...	RSM Riddick
Allan Cuthbertson	...	Capt. Eric Simpson
Paul Whitsun-Jones	...	Maj. 'Dusty' Miller (Mess President)
Gerald Harper	...	Maj. Hugo MacMillan
Richard Leech	...	Capt. Alec Rattray
Peter McEnery	...	2nd Lt. David MacKinnon
Keith Faulkner	...	Cpl. Piper Adam

Runtime:

107 min | USA:106 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Knightsbridge Films

Trivia:

Alec Guinness was offered the role of Lt. Col. Barrow, but asked for the role of Maj. Sinclair instead; he then suggested John Mills for the other role.

Quotes:

Major Jock Sinclair: We're on a first name basis in this regiment. Your first name is Derek; my first name is Major.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The 52nd Annual Academy Awards (1980) (TV)

The art of acting

I finally had the chance to see this film in its entirety on Bravo a few days ago. Ronald Neame was not a director of the first rank, and he probably wasnt even a director of the second, but this is NOT a directors picture. It is a picture carried by superb acting and a brilliant script.I am now convinced that Guinness was one of the greatest screen actors that ever lived-if not the greatest.. This performance surpasses even his Colonel Nicholson in Bridge on the River Kwai, or his magnificent performances in the Ealing comedies. His boorish, arrogant, but oddly touching and vulnerable Jock Sinclair is a full length portrait worthy of Rembrandt-or Dostoevsky.John Mills, as the "by the book " colonel, whose aloof exterior hides enormous psychic scars, is almost equally good.Dennis Price, as a friend who turns his back on Sinclair, and the superb Gordon Jackson ( he was a great actor long, long before Upstairs Downstairs)as a restrained, sensitive officer who tries ineffectually to help both antagonists, are almost equally good. All of the other performances are very fine.The films beautifully written, sometimes funny, usually achingly sad script is a profound meditation on honor, tradition, repression and class conflict. Guinnesses soliloquy at the end is one of the most heart-breaking moments in all of film.