"Billy Budd" Is Worth Sailing For

I finally caught Peter Ustinov's 1962 production of "Billy Budd", based on the Herman Melville book.

It stars Ustinov, Robert Ryan, Melvyn Douglas, and introduced the world to Terence Stamp in the title role.

The plot concerns Budd, newly conscripted to Captain Ustinov's ship during the Napoleonic wars.

Stamp's Budd is a beautiful, almost Christ-like figure, totally without guile.

This only enflames the self-loathing and anger seething within the ship's sadistic Master-at-Arms (akin say to a Master Sergeant), played to perfection by Ryan. Veteran player Douglas also stands out as a wise and wizened Scandinavian sailor.

Salty, solid and smart, this film bears out the adage, "They don't make them like they used to."

Set sail with "Billy Budd".