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H.M.S. Avenger is headed into battle against the French fleet during the Napoleonic Wars, and the dark shadow of two recent mutinies in the English fleet concern Captain Vere (Sir Peter Ustinov). He relies on his cruel and often sadistic Master-at-Arms John Claggert (Robert Ryan) to maintain what he believes to be tenuous order and discipline aboard the ship. When a new seaman, Billy Budd (Terence Stamp), is pressed into service from a passing merchantman, his innocent, happy-go-lucky attitude quickly endears him to his messmates as well as the ships officers. However, his charismatic naivete seems to bother Claggert, whose perverse depravity makes him resent Billys good-natured purity, especially after the teenagers promotion to fore-top Captain. The mean-spirited Claggert unfairly plots to put him on report and ultimately perjures himself when he accuses Billy of conspiring to mutiny.
Its 1797. Billy Budd (Terence Stamp) is a crew member of the British merchant ship the "Rights of Man" sailing off the coast of Spain, when the ship is briefly commandeered by the British Naval Ship, H.M.S. Avenger. The officers of the Avenger decide to impress Budd into their service as is their right under British marine law. The young, somewhat innocent Budd, to whom honesty is the most noble trait, is quick to make friends with his new crewmen, but learns quickly that life aboard a Naval ship, this Naval ship in particular, is different than aboard a merchant ship when he sees one of his fellow crewmen being flogged. The reason for the flogging is unknown, and could be, as the elder Dansker (Melvyn Douglas), a fellow crew member, states, solely because it was his time. The instigator of the flogging and of seemingly other unprovoked brutality is the ships Master at Arms, John Claggart (Robert Ryan). The ships Captain, Edwin Fairfax Vere (Sir Peter Ustinov), knows the type of man that Claggart is, and does not condone his actions. Budd, in turn, does not hate Claggart as do most of the other crewmen, but tries to understand him. When Vere is the sole witness in an incident between Claggart and Budd, Vere, with the help of his officers, has to decide what is just, what is the best for the Avenger and what is best for the British Admiralty, especially in this time of war.
Robert Ryan
John Claggart - Master of Arms
Peter Ustinov
Edwin Fairfax Vere - Post Captain Royal Navy
Melvyn Douglas
The Dansker - Sailmaker
Paul Rogers
Philip Seymour - First Lieutenant
John Neville
Julian Radcliffe - Second Lieutenant
David McCallum
Steven Wyatt - Gunnery Officer
Ronald Lewis
Enoch Jenkins - Maintopman
Lee Montague
Squeak - Assistant to Mr. Claggart
Thomas Heathcote
Alan Payne - Maintopman
Ray McAnally
William O'Daniel - Maintopman
Robert Brown
Arnold Talbot - Maintopman
John Meillon
Neil Kincaid - Maintopman
Cyril Luckham
Alfred Hallam - Captain of Marines
Niall MacGinnis
Nathaniel Graveling - Ship's Master, Rights of Man
Victor Brooks
Amos Leonard - First Mate, Rights of Man
Barry Keegan
Charles Mathews - Merchant Seaman, Rights of Man
Terence Stamp
Billy Budd - Merchant Seaman, Rights of Man
John Hewer
Dubbing
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