Life on a British bomber base, and the surrounding towns, from the opening days of the Battle of Britain, to the arrival of the Americans, who join in the bomber offensive. The film centres around Pilot Officer Peter Penrose, fresh out of a training unit, who joins the squadron, and quickly discovers about life during war time. He falls for Iris, a young girl who lives at the local hotel, but he becomes disillusioned about marriage, when the squadron commander dies in a raid, and leaves his wife, the hotel manageress, with a young son to bring up. As the war progresses, Penross comes to terms that he has survived, while others have been killed.
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It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.
I love many of the classic old British war films, Ice Cold in Alex, The Way Ahead, In Which We Serve and so on. This is one of those classics, made during the war so propaganda film to reassure the public. It follows John Mills as a novice bomber pilot joining his new squadron, being shown the ropes by veteran michael redgrave. Redgrave has already settled down married a local girl and had a son. Mills is falling in love with another local girl and planning to ask her to marry. Then Redgrave is killed and Mills decides during war is not time to make attachments. The aerodrome is taken over by Americans, and we follow their battles much from the viewpoint of Redgrave's widow. Classic great film of tragedy and overcoming adversity, stiff upper lip chaps.. Watch on a Sunday afternoon with a cold beer.
This is not a big action film. While the viewer often hears the planes being revved up for another mission over Germany, this film deals more with the drama of the war. Particularly the drama of how the British fliers & the American Flyers got along on the ground.The films original title, "The Way To The Stars" kind of hints what this film does. It points out how the fliers from all the different countries had to co-exist in order to get the job done & win the war. It not only gives you an authentic feel, but the script goes along & illustrates the cultural differences between the American & British fliers.Below is a partial list of the cast & crew, & you will note a young Trevor Howard is on the list & a young Gene Simmons as well. While the film does not have the action, it is well directed & the characters are well drawn, a solid feature film from the more remote growing World War 2 period. It has now been close to 70 years since the war began & exactly that long since the Blitz on London. Next year will be 70 years since Pearl Harbor. This film is set after that event in the 1940's.Cast & Crew Anthony Asquith Director Michael Redgrave as David ArchdaleJohn Mills as Peter Penrose John Rosamund as Toddy Todd Douglass Montgomery as Johnny Hollis Stanley Holloway as Mr Palmer Renee Asherson as Iris WintertonFelix Aylmer as Reverend Charles Moss Basil Radford as Tiny Williams Bonar Colleano as Joe Friselli Trevor Howard as S/L Carter Joyce Carey as Miss Winterton
The long list of "big" names in this flick (including the ubiquitous John Mills) didn't bowl me over to the extent that I couldn't judge the film on its actual merits. It is FULL of stereotypes, caricatures, and standard, set scenes, from the humble air-ace hero to the loud-mouthed yank flyer. The music track was such that at one point, about an hour before the end, I thought the film was over: loud, rising crescendo, grand flourish and finish then silence, but then the movie continued! I found no real storyline, haphazard writing, but smartly-pressed uniforms and the pretty Jean Simmons (pre-nose job) with a rousing little ditty. I cannot say that this picture has any of the ingredients which make a film great. I found it maudlin, mawkish and minor.
In his autobiography "Up in the Clouds,Time Gentlemen Please",John Mills mentions location filming at Catterick (N.Yorks),he also mentions doing a short scene with Trevor Howard.Mills tells his wife that evening that with any luck Howard must become a star one day. The film has what must rank as one of the worst mimes ever with Jean Simmons as a singer,however,her youth and sheer beauty transcends her miming. This is a classic film of the wartime genre with a superb cast.Three supporting actors went on to work together in Brief Encounter. John Mills also mentions in his book (page 278) that the day before he went to Catterick a "doodlebug" (V1 rocket)flew overhead and exploded not far away in Denham Studios near where he lived.
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