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Billy Budd

Directed by Peter Ustinov

Approved

1962 1h 59mAdventure, Action,

7.892%88%

When a kind-hearted sailor is made to join an English vessel at war in 1797, he finds himself caught between devotion to his crewmates and obedience to their hated, cruel master-at-arms.

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Cast of Billy Budd

Terence StampBilly Budd
Robert RyanJohn Claggart, Master of Arms
Peter UstinovEdwin Fairfax Vere, Post Captain / Director / Writer / Producer
Melvyn DouglasThe Dansker, Sailmaker
Paul RogersPhilip Seymour, 1st Lieutenant
John NevilleJulian Ratcliffe, 2nd Lieutenant
David McCallumSteven Wyatt, Gunnery Officer
Ronald LewisEnoch Jenkins, Maintopman
Lee MontagueSqueak, Mr. Claggart's assistant
Thomas HeathcoteAlan Payne, Maintopman
Ray McAnallyWilliam O'Daniel, Maintopman
Robert BrownArnold Talbot, Maintopman
John MeillonNeil Kincaid, Maintopman
Cyril LuckhamHallam, Captain of Marines
Niall MacGinnisCaptain Nathaniel Graveling
Herman MelvilleWriter
Louis O. CoxeWriter
Robert H. ChapmanWriter
DeWitt BodeenWriter

Billy Budd Ratings & Reviews

CrossCutCriticMay 5, 2025
“In a world governed by law, innocence is not safe. In a world redeemed by grace, it is no longer needed.” — from the journals of a forgotten chaplain BILLY BUDD (1962) — A FUGUE I. "God bless Captain Vere!" You arrive shining. The sea opens. You are the boy without shadow, lips unstained by irony, eyes unacquainted with calculation. The men love you because you do not yet know what love costs. The officers fear you because you remind them what they lost. Claggart sees you and recoils—not from your violence, but your purity. You are not naïve. You are untouched. II. The Law is not the Gospel Captain Vere reads the Articles of War. He sees the boy. He sees the law. He sees that they do not speak the same language. But he cannot translate. A mutiny threatens from memory. Billy’s fist strikes death into Claggart, but it is Adam’s echo that falls. Vere does not hate Billy. He loves him. But he crucifies him all the same. III. The Sound of One Word Missing You stammer before accusation. Your tongue betrays you; your fists speak in its place. The world of law demands articulation—measured, rational, confessional. But what if truth lives deeper than speech? Billy dies not because he is guilty. He dies because he cannot explain his innocence. IV. The Last Beatitude You bless the man who condemns you. Not in sarcasm, not in fury, not even in sorrow. Just: God bless Captain Vere. You bless him because you are already sailing elsewhere. You bless him because you never truly lived under this world’s curse. V. The Court-Martial of God What does it profit a captain to gain a ship and lose his soul? Vere follows the law and loses the kingdom. He is not Pilate. He is Peter, half-knowing, fully torn. Billy ascends. Claggart rots. Vere vanishes. And the wind keeps blowing. --- Interpretive Notes Form: This review is structured as a fugue—a contrapuntal weaving of mythic-theological and legal-philosophical voices. The odd-numbered sections reflect on Billy as an archetype of innocence and sacrificial purity; the even-numbered ones wrestle with institutional justice, moral compromise, and the problem of law. Theological Themes: Billy as Christ-Figure: His innocence, his beatific blessing of Vere, and his sacrificial death evoke the passion of Christ—not triumphant, but crucified. His stammer echoes the divine silence in suffering (Isaiah 53:7). Vere as Tragic Magistrate: Captain Vere is a figure torn between the law (Romans 13) and grace (John 1:17). His decision is lawful but damns him, mirroring Augustine’s dilemma in City of God: the good man who must govern a fallen world. Law vs. Grace: The Articles of War cannot save. They serve Caesar, not Christ. Billy’s presence demands grace—but there is no room for grace on the gallows. Claggart as Diabolical Accuser: His lies are satanic not because they’re crude, but because they are precise. Diabolos means slanderer. He is the Accuser of the saints. Language and Silence: Billy’s stammer becomes an indictment of the world’s requirement for verbal defense. In a legal system that rewards speech, the innocent silent are always at risk. Christ, too, stood mute before Pilate.

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