Billy Budd

 (US - UK)

By VARIETY STAFF

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Allied Artists. Director Peter Ustinov; Producer Peter Ustinov; Screenplay Peter Ustinov, Robert Rossen; Camera Robert Krasker; Editor Jack Harris; Music Anthony Hopkins; Art Director Don Ashton
 
Robert Ryan
Peter Ustinov
Melvyn Douglas
Terence Stamp
Ronald Lewis
David McCallum
 

Peter Ustinov's production of Billy Budd is a near miss, and Ustinov, alas, is the culprit. The ubiquitous Mr U is to be commended for spearheading the noble effort to translate Herman Melville's highly-regarded, thought-provoking last story to the screen - a difficult task. But as director he is guilty of at least one major flaw of execution in which Ustinov, the actor is most prominently implicated.

Billy Budd is the allegorical tale of the clash of an incredibly good-hearted young foretopman and an inhumanly sadistic master-at-arms aboard a British fighting vessel in 1797, and the issue of moral justice vs. the wartime military code that arises when the former is condemned to hang for killing the latter, though recognized even by those who sit in judgment upon him as being spirituallly innocent.

The clash between Budd and his tormentor, Claggart - archtypes of good and evil - has been carried off well by Terence Stamp and Robert Ryan under Ustinov's guidance. Where Ustinov has slipped is in the development and delineation of the character he himself plays - the overly conscientious Captain Vere, whose judgment in favor of military over moral ramifications of the issue sends Budd to his death.

1962: Nomination: Best Supp. Actor (Terence Stamp)

(B&W) Widescreen. Available on VHS. Extract of a review from 1962. Running time: 123 MIN.