Synopsis
Billy Budd (1962) — watch online on iFILM. This British drama adapts Herman Melville's novella for the screen, directed by and co-starring Peter Ustinov. It also marks the film debut of Terence Stamp as Billy, a good-natured young sailor pressed into service aboard a Royal Navy warship. Robert Ryan plays the ship's master-at-arms, with Melvyn Douglas rounding out the lead cast.
The year is 1797, and tension aboard the vessel runs close to mutiny. The master-at-arms, Claggart, despises Billy for the same reason everyone else likes him: his uncomplicated decency. When Claggart accuses Billy of plotting a mutiny before the captain, Billy — unable to speak through his outrage — lands a single blow. The blow kills. Naval law demands execution. Conscience says otherwise. The captain is left to choose between the two.
The film earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1963. Ustinov filmed Melville's collision between innocence and institutional power without softening either side. Stream Billy Budd (1962) online on iFILM.
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