Halfway through the largely disastrous Gallipoli campaign of WWI, a company of British men, most of them workers from a royal estate, entered the fray and were never seen again. Their fate remained a mystery for decades, shrouded in a "miraculous" mist that was said to have surrounded them and carried them to heaven. "All the King's Men" manages to convey in its brief span volumes about loyalty, heroism, faith, patriotism and the casualties of war.

Halfway through the largely disastrous Gallipoli campaign of WWI, a company of British men, most of them workers from a royal estate, entered the fray and were never seen again. Their fate remained a mystery for decades, shrouded in a “miraculous” mist that was said to have surrounded them and carried them to heaven. A lyrical and deeply moving exploration of that mystery, “All the King’s Men” manages to convey in its brief span volumes about loyalty, heroism, faith, patriotism and the casualties of war — physical, spiritual and psychic.

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Although to this day there has been no official explanation for the company’s disappearance, a recent investigation of royal records has led to a somewhat more harrowing interpretation of the episode than the legend of the mist; co-producer Nigel McCrery’s research and novel are the basis of Alma Cullen’s intelligent, understated script.

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Pic’s first third establishes the camaraderie that seems to cut across class lines at Sandringham, where for 30 years Frank Beck (David Jason) has managed the large staff of estate workers, in service to Queen Alexandra (Maggie Smith); her son, George V (David Troughton), the reigning king; and his daughter, Lady Frances (Sonya Walger). Beyond his regular duties, Beck has just completed training the estate’s young men as soldiers, and now watches with mingled pride and frustration as they prepare to go abroad to fight.

The King insists Beck is too old for combat and should remain at home. But Beck gets his way, with the support of the understanding Queen, while his wife (Phyllis Logan) quietly accepts that it would destroy him to stay behind while his men go into action.

A last-minute wedding between Ted Grimes (William Ash) and Peggy Batterbee (Emma Cunniffe), both born on the estate and workers there, captures the young couple’s passion and the fervid esprit de corps of the men in their new uniforms. Amid the festivities, there are also telling glimpses of the more conflicted emotions of the company’s world- and war-weary doctor, Capt. Howlett (limned with scorching restraint by Patrick Malahide), and of the unexpected frisson in a pas de deux between the classics-quoting Lt. Radley (Stuart Bunce) and stablehand Pvt. Needham (James Murray).

Thrown from the lush green estate onto the parched landscape of Turkey (Andalusian locations double for the war zone), Beck finds himself and his men in a place where maps are a joke, supplies are scarce, the enemy excels at camouflage, and the sense of doom is palpable. A much beloved taskmaster and disciplinarian, Beck begins to see that his inspirational rectitude is not enough to carry the men through the nightmare they’ve entered; Jason and helmer Julian Jarrold communicate the captain’s pained disillusionment with eloquent, subdued emotion.

Pic intercuts between England and Turkey to considerable effect: The Queen gazes uneasily upon the calm and spangled waters of Sandringham as her men make their ill-advised foray; the villagers back home attack a man (Adam Kotz) when they discover he is a pacifist, while Grimes goes mano a mano with a Turkish guerrilla who turns out to be a woman and finds himself capable of terrible acts.

Jarrold (“Great Expectations”) is ably supported by the deft work of d.p. David Odd and editor Chris Gill in creating an illuminating synchronicity between scenes of the well-appointed estate and those of the hellish battleground. (Throughout, Beck keeps the pocket watch presented to him by the Queen on “Sandringham time.”) These juxtapositions take on particular power in telepic’s final half-hour, when the story moves not only between the two settings but back and forth in time, suspense and sorrow spiraling as the mystery is unraveled.

A superb cast brings the powerful material to heart-wrenching life. Besides exceptional turns by Jason and Malahide, Smith and Cunniffe are particularly affecting. Former’s Queen steadfastly seeks the truth about the missing men, and the dark flash in her compassionate gaze signals her comprehension when her envoy (Ian McDiarmid) leaves that truth unspoken.

As the Queen’s servant, Cunniffe portrays a young woman so full of life that, in the face of potentially devastating news, she acts with desperate impulse, seeking an immediate antidote to the horror and loneliness she cannot bear.

Film’s tech aspects are polished, with fine production design and especially impressive camerawork marked by passages of poetic elegance as well as visceral, adrenaline-charged battle sequences; scenes at Sandringham were filmed at the actual estate. Adrian Johnston’s poignant score heightens the telepic’s mournful sense of idealism in the throes of brutal reality.

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All the King’s Men

PBS; Telepic; Sun. Feb. 20, 9 p.m.

  • Production: Filmed in England and Spain by BBC America and WGBH Boston for Masterpiece Theater. Executive producers, Hilary Salmon, Jane Tranter (BBC), Rebecca Eaton (WGBH); producer, Gareth Neame; co-producer, Nigel McCrery; director, Julian Jarrold; writer, Alma Cullen; based on the novel by McCrery.
  • Crew: Camera, David Odd; editor, Chris Gill; music, Adrian Johnston; production designer, Donal Woods; art directors, Charmian Adams (England), Fernando Gonzalez (Spain); costume designer, Howard Burden; sound recordist, Reg Mills; sound editor, Michael Corden; special effects, Effects Associates; special effects supervisor, Dominic Tuohy; makeup, Fran Needham; casting, Gail Stevens, Maureen Duff. 120 MIN.
  • Cast: Capt. Frank Beck - David Jason Capt. Claude Howlett - Patrick Malahide Queen Alexandra - Maggie Smith Rev. Pierrepoint Edwards - Ian McDiarmid King George V - David Troughton Second Lt. Frederick Radley - Stuart Bunce Peggy Batterbee - Emma Cunniffe Mary Beck - Phyllis Logan Sgt. Ted Grimes - William Ash Lady Frances - Sonya Walger Oswald Yeoman - Adam Kotz With: James Murray, Ed Waters, Tom Burke, Ben Crompton, Eamon Boland, Jo Stone-Fewings, James Hillier, Gaye Brown, Danny Worters, Laurence Dobiesz, Roland Oliver, Jamie Beddard, William Hoyland, Daisy Gough, Heather Tobias, Oliver Haden, Jasper Jacob.

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