Conduct Unbecoming (1975)

Michael York was huge back then. I remember the promos for this on HBO in the '70's, but I never watch it. The promos played up the "mess game" where officers run around with swords chasing a stuffed pig on wheels that Michael York pulled around on a string. I assumed THAT was the "conduct unbecoming" they were talking about, but it turns out that was one of the regiment's traditions.

It's one of those movies where someone is assigned to act as defense counsel in a court martial and discovers that he's expected to not interfere with the defendant being convicted. Other examples are Breaker Morant, The Winston Affair, and Paths of Glory. 

Young officers Michael York and James Faulkner arrive in India to join a regiment of the Indian Army in the 1880's. Faulkner's character, the son of a general, wants out and intentionally antagonizes the other officers so they'll get rid of him. York is given the job of defending him in an informal court martial when he's charged with assaulting the widow of a captain. The captain was killed and mutilated years earlier. His tunic and pith helmet are kept on display in a glass case.

There are things about the ending that didn't make sense to me and wasn't entirely plausible. 

The movie didn't want to condemn the British Army so the officers intent on railroading a new officer in order to maintain the traditions of the regiment are interested in the truth after all. 

The movie reminded me of is the Japanese samurai movie Hara Kiri. The samurai have a suit of armor displayed as a shinto idol, they have an exaggerated concern for the honor of their clan and the way the trial in Conduct Unbecoming was arranged, with the witness sitting in a chair facing a row of judges, the prosecution and defense reminded me of Tatsuya Nakadai sitting in the courtyard with rows of Samurai. 

With Michael York, Susanna York, Richard Attenborough, Stacey Keach, Christopher Plummer and Trevor Howard. Directed by Michael Anderson, based on the play by Barry England.