Joseph Losey directs this 1960s war drama starring Dirk Bogarde. During WWI, British Army lawyer Captain Hargreaves (Bogarde) has been assigned to defend Arthur Hamp (Tom Courtenay), a young private who faces the death penalty for desertion. Initially impatient to have the case over so that he can get back to the war, Hargreaves comes to realise that Hamp is innocent, shell-shocked and of low intelligence.
The court martial is unsympathetic and Hamp is sentenced to death, but his fellow soldiers are unwilling to shoot...