The Age of Commercialism

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

This is a fairly interesting British film produced during WW-II on the subject of RAF crew training. Although produced by the RAF, there are some people involved in this production who would become better known in later years, including the directer, John Boulting, writer Terrance Rattigan and actors Richard Attenborough, Jack Watling and David Tomlinson. Also present is well-known British actor John Justin ("The Thief of Bagdad"), who was then serving in the RAF. Also appearing is the well-known American film actor Edward G. Robinson, who supposedly participated in this film without pay in order to help the British war effort.The film itself is surprisingly well done for a military production made under wartime conditions, and it probably presents a fairly accurate depiction of WW-II RAF flight training and bomber operations. For instance, it is true that thousands of British aircrew were trained in Canada and the U.S. during WW-II. It is nearly forgotten today that there were no less than seven airfields operated in the U.S. as British Flight Training Schools which were completely separate from USAAF and US Navy training facilities. Although the schools were operated on behalf of the RAF, they employed American civilian pilots as flight instructors rather than British or American military personnel. That probably explains the somewhat unusual uniform worn by Edward G. Robinson in the film, in which he depicts one of those American civilian flight instructors.This film still holds the viewer's interest, both as a story and as a historical document of the period during which it was produced.

As a Rattigan completist I have long coveted this film and now at last I own it on DVD. Whilst it would be ludicrous to compare it to The Way To The Stars, released the same year,for which Rattigan cannibalized his stage hit Flare Path, it's still a decent effort and worthy of being included in a time capsule of the period, The Way We Live Now and all that. Eddie Robinson gets co-star billing but has two reels screen time at most during which he manages effortlessly to outclass Dickie Attenborough who was still trying too hard to get noticed. Jack Watling takes what amounts to the second lead with David Tomlinson making up the numbers and a young George Cole in a blink-and-you'll-miss-him scene. Rattigan has cobbled a very workmanlike screenplay from this men only cast - albeit Attenborough contrives to slip a photograph of Sheila Sim under the wire. Now very much a period piece but a must for Rattigan buffs.

As much a documentary as a fictional narrative, although there is no narrator. The film takes us -- in the person of a young and grinning Richard Attenborough -- through primary flight training in England, thence to advanced training in California, and finally back to England for a raid over Berlin.Attenborough's friend, Watling, has the stuff to be a bomber pilot but poor Attenborough lacks a sense of altitude and can't land an airplane. He can navigate though, and even if it's somehow a lesser position in the status hierarchy he recovers his self esteem and learns to do his job.The film lacks a sense of altitude as well. The story is by Terence Rattigan, who later wrote "Breaking the Sound Barrier," directed by David Lean, and, man, did THAT have a sense of altitude. The scenes of flight were thrilling. Here they're perfunctory. And the editing doesn't help. One minute a man is flying a trainer normally. Then, an instant cut, and he's trying to pull out of a frenized tailspin. The external scenes of airplanes flying are adequate for the period, but the shots in the cockpit or on the flight deck look as staged in a studio as they actually were.There isn't any sort of conflict either, which might have enhanced the viewer's interest. Everybody wears stripes on his uniform and a stiff upper lip on his philtrum. For a contrast -- that is, a movie that involves some adversarial qualities between pilots and other crew members -- see "Bombardier." Or, if you want the Blue Plate Special, see Howard Hawks' "Air Force." I would have found it a better film if it had showed us some of the elements of navigation too. At one point, Attenborough is the navigator on an airplane flying through fog. The airplane is running out of fuel and the pilot keeps gently nudging Attenborough about the course and distance to the field. But Attenborough, all gnomed over his board at the navigator's position, is sweating over some problem he's having. It's a tense scene. The viewer wants to know what the problem is, but never finds out because the movie hasn't shown us even the most elementary features of navigation. And if we know nothing about the process, how can we understand its problems? It would be like a stockbroker telling you that we're having a little problem with your structured derivative instruments. What the hell does that mean? Anyway, the end result is that for five minutes we watch Attenborough struggling with -- well, with something.Edward G. Robinson has a small part as an instructor at a California air field. I wish someone would explain exactly what that uniform is that he's wearing. If someone in that get up pulled me over and gave me a speeding ticket, I'd probably accept it as genuine.

I was fortunate to be one of the students at one of the BFTS training schools in Texas. The main theme, was to show students that flunked the flying course that it was just as important to be retrained as a navigator or other crew member. The principal flight instructor was Edward G Robinson who is not listed. He gave his services free out of respect for the war effort. The "few" refer to the original fighter pilots that that served at the beginning of the war '39 to '42W.H.Stannard Ex RAF.