Released: 1960

Dir.: Ronald Neame

Acting Col. Jock Sinclair (Alec Guinness) is in command of a Scottish Highland Regiment in the peacetime years following the Second World War. He took command when the regiments Colonel was killed during the Battle of El Alamein in North Africa and saw the battalion through to the wars end and beyond. Jock is a hard drinking career man who worked his way up the ranks the hard way, beginning as a regimental piper. If it had not been for the military, Jock would likely have been a criminal.

Jock has a small inner circle of officers, who offer him blind loyalty, while the remaining officers go about their duties, turning a blind eye to Jock’s rowdy, undisciplined behavior, while suffering his verbal attacks in the mess. Jock is also a school yard bully, who’s about to be relieved of command.

Jock’s replacement is Lt. Col. Basil Barrow (John Mills), a descendant of the regiments founder, as well as an educated man from a distinguished military family, and more suited to the discipline of a peacetime command. This of course does not go down well with Jock, and making matters worse, Barrow shows up the evening before he is to officially take command, right smack in the middle of one of Jock’s rowdy drinking fests. Neither man is impressed.

Upon assuming command Barrow quickly catches on to Jock’s lackadaisical command style. Jock is confident that Barrow will adopt Jock’s ways simply because they have become ‘tradition’. Jock could not be more wrong. In Jock’s mind tradition is important, providing they are his traditions. While Barrow supports tradition, providing they are sensible and not undisciplined and reckless. Barrow is appalled by the state of the regiment. Officers have a responsibility to be gentlemen, not hooligans.

Barrow decides to have a cocktail party, in a months’ time, open to the local civilians as the regiment and the civilians are a part of the same community. Officers of the regiment should present themselves to the civil population as gentlemen, Barrow goes so far as to arrange dancing lessons for all officers, no exceptions, to stress his point.

When the party rolls around Jock humiliates Barrow by turning the festivities from a formal affair into a rowdy party. Barrow, thoroughly embarrassed, immediately stops the party and sends everyone home. Meanwhile, Jock doesn’t do himself any favors, when later that evening, he goes to a local pub and finds his daughter, Morag (Susannah York) having a drink with a corporal from the regiment (John Frasier). Jock, sufficiently drunk, strikes the corporal. Both men in uniform, this is a serious offence.

Barrow is in a tough spot. He can conduct a thorough investigation, presenting the findings to Brigade HQ, likely to be followed by Jock being court marshaled. He can keep the incident within the regiment, Jock receiving some sort of disciplinary punishment. Or he could simply drop the matter. Arguments for all three are brought to Barrow, who decides to conduct an evidence gathering investigation.

Ultimately, Jock, acting the victim, masterfully talks Barrow into dropping the matter. Jock and his inner circle return to their rowdy bullying ways. Barrow’s authority totally undermined.

For anyone who hasn’t seen Tunes of Glory revealing the events of the final act, I would be doing them a severe injustice. Those who have seen the film know what I mean. Looking at Jock, I see a narcissistic, self-important little tyrant, who demands personal loyalty from his officers, above all else, or suffer the consequences, in the form of humiliation in front of ones peers. Or more simply, a schoolyard bully. This is what is unfolding within the ranks of a long-standing honored military institution.

The study of class and military hierarchy is fascinating and excellently portrayed in Tunes of Glory. Barrow’s command style is by the book, based on honor, tradition, and discipline. Where Jock’s methods are born from the battlefield, where discipline was somewhat laxer in favor of winning the battle and survival. Barrow is not wrong in wanting to inject a more disciplined, gentlemanly attitude among his officers. Peace has broken out, the world is a different place, civilized once again. The structure of the officer corps should reflect that, and not childish hooliganism.

It is shocking that when Jock has the upper hand over Barrow, not one of Barrow’s officers not sympathetic to Jock, comes to Barrow’s aid. Even though they object to Jock’s method and behavior, and celebrate Barrow’s return to discipline, fail him when he needs them most. Only the regiment’s adjutant Capt. Cairns (Gordon Jackson), who is caught between Jock and Barrow, offers him any type of support.

As a 2^nd Lt. in the Royal Canadian Artillery, in the 50s and 60s, my dad was quite fond of this film. Much to my regret, we never had the opportunity to watch it together, but he left me with the distinct impression that this was an accurate portrayal of the dynamic of military hierarchy and the conflicts found within. Perhaps not quite as devastating.

He shared with me a story of before he was an officer, dad was being screamed at by a Drill Sgt., calling him a ‘little man!’, for what was probably a slight infraction. The Drill Sgt. was significantly shorter than dad. A similar event is portrayed in the film minus the height discrepancy.

To say that Alec Guinness is brilliant in Tunes of Glory would be an understatement. Only three years prior he had portrayed Col. Nicholson in Bridge on the River Kwai and that image of a by the book, gentleman officer goes completely out the window here. Jock is the complete opposite of Nicholson, and just as multi-layered, perhaps more so. Both conflicted, only Jock seems aware of who he is, where Nicholson has no comprehension of the consequences of his actions until it is much too late. Yet Jock is destined to suffer a similar fate.

John Mills matches Guinness in complexity and performance. Portraying a man so desperately wanting to be liked, while still demanding respect as a leader. Soldiering is a serious business, huge responsibility, and highly honorable, Barrow is all too aware of this, and certainly sees that Jock, and his disciples have lost sight of their sense of duty. Not only to the regiment, but to the empire they have sworn to protect.

Jock can express all the emotions, but 98% of what he portrays is false. For what is most important to him is the fueling of his ego, at the expense of his command, the regiment, even his own daughter. For the honor of the regiment is a hollow sentiment he uses to charm his way around his superiors and hold on to what he feels is rightfully his, even if his world is growing smaller.

Tunes of Glory has been described as an exploration of the clash of the class hierarchy not only in the military, as well as in British society at the time. That is completely true. Most importantly the film is a brilliant character study featuring two of Great Britain’s finest actors at the absolute top of their game. That alone makes Tunes of Glory worth the journey.

Tunes of Glory is available on DVD from the Criterion Collection, and can be found on the YouTube.