The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell

Brigadier General William Mitchell (Gary Cooper) tries to prove the worth of the Air Service as an independent service by sinking a battleship under restrictive conditions agreed to by Army and Navy. He disobeys their orders to limit the attack to bombs under 1,000 pounds from an altitude of greater than 5,000 ft. and instead loads 2,000 pounders. With these, Mitchell directs his aircraft to fly at 2,000 ft. and proves he can sink the ex-German World War I battleship Ostfriesland, previously considered unsinkable. His superiors are outraged.

Politically vocal, Mitchell is demoted to colonel and sent to a ground unit in Texas. A high-profile air disaster occurs in which his close friend Zachary Lansdowne (Jack Lord) is killed, the crash of the dirigible USS Shenandoah. This is followed by a second disaster in which six aircraft flying from a base on the California coast to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, crash. They were poorly maintained because of lack of funds.

Mitchell at this point calls a press conference in which he harshly criticizes the Army. He is then court-martialed. The trial goes slowly for Mitchell's attorney and friend, Illinois Congressman Frank R. Reid (Ralph Bellamy), who tries everything, until he subpoenas President Calvin Coolidge. The court, consequently, decides to adjourn.

Clearly the military wants out of the limelight, but Mitchell refuses to sign a paper Reid has presented him in which he withdraws his criticisms in return for saving his career as an Army officer. Margaret Lansdowne (Elizabeth Montgomery), widow of Mitchell's dead friend from the Shenandoah, then appears in court. The previous barring of evidence demonstrating a justification for Mitchell's criticisms of his superiors failure to develop air power is repealed. Many witnesses are then called forward to corroborate Mitchell's criticisms, including Eddie Rickenbacker (Tom McKee), Carl Spaatz (Steve Roberts), Henry H. Arnold (Robert Brubaker) and Fiorello LaGuardia (Phil Arnold).

Finally Mitchell testifies and is cross-examined by Maj. Allen W. Gullion (Rod Steiger), a prosecutor specially brought in for the job. He stresses that Mitchell had disobeyed his superior officers. Gullion also ridicules Mitchell's attempts at foresight, even when accurately predicting both the Philippines and Hawaii would be attacked by Japan in 1941.

The court finds Mitchell guilty, but he has accomplished his goal of making the public aware of the state of American air power. As his pilots salute him, Mitchell steps out and looks up to see a squadron of four biplanes in flight. [Note 1]

Producer and screenwriter Milton Sperling began work on Mitchell's story in 1938, just two years after the general's death. In the successive years, he continued to seek out help from Mitchell's family until 1955 when production began in earnest. Under the direction of Otto Preminger, the first 10 days of principal photography took place on location in Washington, D.C. in the original sites involved in the story. The old War Department Building, Army-Navy Club and State Department buildings, among others, were featured in key scenes.[2]

Aerial sequences under the direction of second unit director Russ Saunders and aerial coordinator Paul Mantz took place at the Fletcher Airport in Rosamond, California. The aircraft that were used in the film included two Curtiss JN-4 biplanes, de Havilland DH-4, Grumman J2F Duck and Waco 10 biplanes.[3]

The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell had its national premiere in New York City on December 22, 1955 as the main feature along with the short 24 Hour Alert.[4] The films, subsequently, were paired with the longer feature shown first in major cities.[5] When The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell was released, Mitchell's sister Ruth, who served in World War II with Yugoslavian Chetnik guerrillas and later wrote a book about her brother, toured the U.S. doing publicity for the film.[6][Note 2]

• List of American films of 1955

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• The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell at History on Film