A Home Guard officer serving during the Second World War is outraged by the disrespect for tradition shown by younger soldiers. He looks back on his military adventures during the Boer War and First World War, as well as his three great loves. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's satirical drama, starring Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr, Anton Walbrook and John Laurie.

General Candy, who's overseeing an English squad in 1943, is a veteran leader who doesn't have the respect of the men he's training and is considered out-of-touch with what's needed to win the war. But it wasn't always this way. Flashing back to his early career in the Boer War and World War I, we see a dashing young officer whose life has been shaped by three different women, and by a lasting friendship with a German soldier.