Paul Newman gives perhaps his most powerful performance as Captain Hall. He is restrained, moving, and with just enough wit and comedy (those hiccups) to let us know that an honorable and decent man has survived inside that devastated soldier. He stands out in a truly sterling cast led by Wendell Corey, Edmund O'Brien, Walter Pidgeon, and, holding her own with admirable grace, Anne Francis.
Most IMDb reviewers seem disappointed in the film's ending, either because it's sad or because it's ambiguous (it's both: the film ends after the guilty verdict but before sentencing). But I credit the ending with intelligence, complexity, and dignity. It was persuasively real and it delivers a moment of redemption all the more moving for being underplayed. After the guilty verdict, we learn that a key witness against him has forgiven Hall after hearing his testimony about the months of torture. I found the ending both satisfying and believable-- not only that a military court would have ruled against Hall given the army's code during the Korean War, but that Hall would find true redemption not in the verdict of army judges, but in the forgiveness from a comrade in arms-- especially a comrade who had also been imprisoned and tortured in that Korean prison.
By the way, although it's essentially a courtroom drama, the scenes of soldiers coming home are strongly flavored, reminiscent of "The Best Years of our Lives", and praise for coming-home pictures doesn't get higher than that.
Most IMDb reviewers seem disappointed in the film's ending, either because it's sad or because it's ambiguous (it's both: the film ends after the guilty verdict but before sentencing). But I credit the ending with intelligence, complexity, and dignity. It was persuasively real and it delivers a moment of redemption all the more moving for being underplayed. After the guilty verdict, we learn that a key witness against him has forgiven Hall after hearing his testimony about the months of torture. I found the ending both satisfying and believable-- not only that a military court would have ruled against Hall given the army's code during the Korean War, but that Hall would find true redemption not in the verdict of army judges, but in the forgiveness from a comrade in arms-- especially a comrade who had also been imprisoned and tortured in that Korean prison.
By the way, although it's essentially a courtroom drama, the scenes of soldiers coming home are strongly flavored, reminiscent of "The Best Years of our Lives", and praise for coming-home pictures doesn't get higher than that.