The Court Martial Of Billy Mitchell (1955)

Set in the mid 1920s, a Brigadier General (Gary Cooper) stresses the future of air power in the military against the indifference of Army and Navy leaders. When a close friend (Jack Lord) is killed in a dirigible crash which is followed by another air disaster, he denounces the incompetence and negligence of Army and Navy administrators. This leads to his court martial. Directed by Otto Preminger (LAURA), this is based on the infamous 1925 trial of General William Mitchell. While mostly accurate, it does tend to whitewash Mitchell a bit and make him more of a prophesier than he really was. As a courtroom drama, it's pretty decent and the cast is quite good although I found Cooper a bit stiff. It's not a visual film and mostly stationary so the decision to film in CinemaScope is questionable especially since cinematographer Sam Leavitt (ANATOMY OF A MURDER) doesn't take advantage of the format. The film's screenplay received an Oscar nomination. The large cast includes Rod Steiger, Ralph Bellamy, Charles Bickford, Darren McGavin, James Daly, Peter Graves and in her film debut, Elizabeth Montgomery.