King and Country

1964

1h 26m

War

List

89%

9 Reviews

Tomatometer

80%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

In this World War I drama, English army private Arthur Hamp (Tom Courtenay) is accused of deserting his company while on the battlefield. Defended at his trial by the initially unsympathetic upper-crust lawyer Captain Hargreaves (Dirk Bogarde), Hamp could face a firing squad if found guilty. During the course of the trial, Hargreaves begins to empathize with Hamp, who dealt with horrible conditions in the trenches that are depicted in vivid detail.

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Audience Member

It plays like theater, but that's appropriate for the intimacy of the material. Still, it tries its best to be "real". There's nothing glamorous about war: the mud, the rats, the darkness, and, best of the all, the leaky shed where the trial takes place. The ending is shocking, though I would argue it's not so much for what takes place, but for the efficiency and lack of sentimentality with which it's handled. Another excellent Joseph Losey film.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

stunning performances. this a very rare film that shows the war from a different perspective especially the mood of the film is soo disturbing. This is undoubtedly a great film.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

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Audience Member

An odd war film, which should probably be watched a second time (months later) to fully appreciate it. When is enough, enough - or too much? This film set during WWI but was made during the Vietnam conflict, I didn't think PTSD/shell-shock was recognized at that time as much as this film intimates. How do we define justice whether in civilian or military venues?

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

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Audience Member

A gripping, impossibly tense affair from the outset. Bogarde is terrific.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

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Audience Member

This is so offensive to soldiers, just because Hamps a working class soldier he's really stupid? And when Webb says stuff about being in the war to do what he's told when Hamp clearly is to. The guy who wrote this is just attacking working class and saying wether they can handle the war is based on their rank. It feels like they wrote this film just to have a got at the working class

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Fairly simplistic with it's storyline of a shell-shocked soldier charged with dissection, but it's a very powerful statement on the wrongs of the army of on its own soldiers, neatly mirrored by the privates in the trenches tormenting a rat as proceedings unravel.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

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Joseph Losey

Director

Dirk Bogarde

Capt. Hargreaves

Tom Courtenay

Pvt. Arthur Hamp

Leo McKern

Capt. O'Sullivan

Barry Foster

Lt. Webb

Peter Copley

Colonel

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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

This film is a gruelling experience and Dirk Bogarde’s coup de grâce is the most horrible effect of all.

Rated: 5/5

Nov 3, 2023

Full Review

Ed Gonzalez

Apollo Guide

Losey creates a chilling sense of mood with nothing more than horrifying still images of a war-torn landscape.

Rated: 85/100

Feb 14, 2001

Full Review

Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

…a painfully corrosive look at British class system in a wartime setting…

Rated: 4/5

Nov 7, 2023

Full Review

Dwight MacDonald

Esquire Magazine

After ninety minutes of visual deprivation and sledgehammer moralizing, one remembers with affection Stanley Kubrick's treatment of the same war and the same theme in Paths of Glory.

Aug 13, 2019

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Tense, downbeat, class-conscious antiwar drama.

Rated: B+

May 31, 2010

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 3/5

Jul 10, 2005

Full Review

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Synopsis

In this World War I drama, English army private Arthur Hamp (Tom Courtenay) is accused of deserting his company while on the battlefield. Defended at his trial by the initially unsympathetic upper-crust lawyer Captain Hargreaves (Dirk Bogarde), Hamp could face a firing squad if found guilty. During the course of the trial, Hargreaves begins to empathize with Hamp, who dealt with horrible conditions in the trenches that are depicted in vivid detail.

Director: Joseph Losey
Producer: Daniel M Angel
Screenwriter: Evan Jones
Production Co: B.H.E. Productions
Genre: War
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 15, 2017
Runtime: 1h 26m

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