Nominated for four BAFTAs and the Venice Golden Lion. Set in WWI, Dirk Bogarde plays an arrogant soldier assigned to defend Arthur Hamp (Tom Courtenay), a slow-witted private who faces the death penalty for desertion.Initially impatient to have the case over so that he can get back to the war, Bogarde comes to realise that Hamp is innocent, shell-shocked and a little simple. The court martial is unsympathetic; Hamp is sentenced to death, but his fellow soldiers are unwilling to shoot . . . In typical fashion, Joseph Losely exploits the unthinking arrogance of the officer class within the context of the horrors of the Western Front and the bewilderment of one of its victims. The way Losey and his prime actors, Bogarde and Courteney, break down that divide during the course of the trial for Court Martial, creates a masterpiece of filming and performance. One of Losey's finest films.