Guns at Batasi, Britain

NCO’s bar: John Meilon, Percy Herbert, Richard Attenborough and Graham Stark

This film was made by British producer George H. Brown together with C20th Fox. It was directed by John Guillermin: the Boulting Brothers had shown some interest. It is adapted from a novel, The Siege of Battersea by Robert Holles. Holles is credited with the screenplay though he adapted one already produced by two other writers. The setting is an unnamed East African state, after Independence but still with British military supervising the increasingly African staffed army. The ‘Battersea’ of the novel seems to be a bit of British slang for the town of Batasi. It only appears once in the film, used by a British NCO. Holles had army experience and had served in the US-led war in Korea. His first novel, which seems to have been set then was disliked by the British military. He later left the army and worked as a writer including scripting for Television.

The film is set in an army camp outside the major town of Batasi and takes place in little over a 24 hour period, from afternoon on one day until either next day or the day after. The main location is the NCO’s mess: we briefly see an armoury: the officers’ mess: the local town: connecting roads: and a British delegation somewhere. The day in question is the celebration of the Queen’s official birthday.  This is presided over by Regimental Sergeant Major Lauderdale (Richard Attenborough). There are five other non-commissioned Officers and two black privates/servants. They are joined by a Private Wilkes (John Leyton) on his way to army discharge and accompanied by a young UN secretary, Karen Eriksson (Mia Farrow): later they are joined by a visiting Labour Member of Parliament on an inspection, Miss Barker-Wise (Flora Robson). The evening n is disrupted when a coup against the existing recognised government occurs; and then the senior African officer, Captain Abraham (Earl Cameron), is arrested by his subordinate Lieutenant Boniface (Errol John), for treason. A wounded Abraham escapes and takes refuge in the NCO’s mess. Lauderdale, with no communications available with his CO, Colonel Deal (Jack Hawkins), refuses to hand over Abraham to Boniface. The situation escalates to the point of using weapons and explosives. The British powers-that-be come to a compromise with the new Government, which includes the state remaining in the Commonwealth but with Lauderdale packed off out the country in likely disgrace. Abraham also gets a safe conduct whilst Boniface becomes Military Governor.

The novel was published in 1961 and both it and the film seem to fit into the ‘Winds of Change’; so-called by the British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan (1960). In this film Lauderdale dominates the other NCOs and whilst he explains that the African ‘best’ equal that of the British ‘best’, regards most of the African soldiers as incompetent. His motivation in the conflict is an expression of 25 years military service. Apart from Boniface his other adversary is Barker-Wise who knew Boniface earlier in London, where presumably he studied. Wilkes is a handy addition to Lauderdale’s action but Eriksson seems to be mainly an added love interest with little relevance to the plot. Throughout the film Lauderdale is a tower of strength and seemingly unflappable. Only at the end after Colonel Dale explains his fate does he break down; throwing his whisky glass over the bar and, to his mortification, smashing the photograph of the Queen which hangs there and in which he takes great pride.

The unnamed African country is likely Kenya; Wikipedia notes;

“The unnamed country is evocative of Kenya in east Africa: RSM Lauderdale mentions the Turkana peoples (who live in Kenya), native soldiers speak in Kiswahili, the lingua franca of the Kenyan region, and aspects of the story echo Kenya’s troubled post-independence era, including the 1957 Mau Mau Uprising.” [no source given].

The so-called ‘Mau Mau Uprising’ was a war for independence in which the British, in typical colonial fashion, used actions denoted as war crimes in the conventions to which Britain was supposed to adhere. And the film is imbued with a racialism typical of British film in this period. A quote on Wikipedia comments;

“The historian Wendy Webster has more recently reflected that ‘The film continuously asserts the racial superiority of the British and at the same time shows that such superiority no longer provides any guarantee of authority or power. Guns at Batasi is an elegy for the soldier hero, particularly the imperial soldier, and is infused by imperial nostalgia.” (The Journal of British Studies, 2001).

One can see this in the role of Abraham who is compliant to the British. When advised he is now commander he asks Deal to be sure and advise him; Deal stands behind him, a character of authority, when he issues his first commands. Boniface comes across as tricky; Lauderdale already has him marked down as a troublemaker. The ordinary African soldiers are clearly portrayed as lacking the skills and professionalism of the British. And the ordinary Africans are only seen in a riot in the nearby Batasi. The comments of the British suggest a mass under the sway of a leader on the make; only recently released from prison. But British superiority is undermined by Bartlett-Wise who suggests a changing standpoint among the British political elite. But her stance is subverted: she has a rough edge typified by her chain smoking: and she is quickly disabused by Boniface on her status. The superficial British authorities are seen as almost irrelevant; a sardonic stance that probably stems from the novel. At the end they seem happy that the new government has agreed to stay in the Commonwealth.

Richard Attenborough’s Lauderdale is a fine performance; it seems he studied an actual RSM at  London Barracks for a week or so. He won a further BAFTA for the role. The NCOs are an unprepossessing lot, but played convincingly by supporting actors. Leyton is fine whilst Farrow’s character has little to do. She replaced Britt Ekland with whom C20th Fox became embroiled in an expansive legal dispute. Earl Cameron and Errol John  are both fine given the limitations of their characters. Robson convincingly plays the MP caught out of place; and she had form both as an MP and as an earlier Queen. The other Africans in the cast really are just ‘extras’.

Douglas Slocombe creates the world well, working with the set designers in a London studio and an exterior on Salisbury Plain. Max Benedict edits the film to maintain a fine tempo. John Addison’s score reinforces the values of Lauderdale in particular. In the closing sequence there are a few notes of The Last Post as the RSM surveys the damage; then the music swells with martial music as he strides away over the parade ground.

The film worked well as a thriller and recouped at the box office. Whilst some reviews picked up on the anachronisms of empire in the 1960s it was generally cast as an exciting drama. Its racialism was typical of much of the British film fare in the period. The happy exceptions were those films labelled British New Wave. Attenborough did not work in any of these; the film-makers tended to younger and atypical actors.

Black and white CinemaScope, 103 minutes

 

Whistle Down the Wind, Britain 1961

On Location, Richard Attenborough in the foreground

This was a joint production by Attenborough’s and Forbes’ Beaver Films and Allied Film Makers. It was to be adapted from a novel of the same name by Mary Hayley Bell, the partner of John Mills. Mills was a long-time friend of Attenborough and had shared top billing with him in a number of films. It was to star Hayley Mills the daughter of John and Mary. She had already become a child star with Tiger Bay (1959) and Disney’s Pollyanna (1960). The Mills family appear to have been rather precious about Hayley and her career. Bryan Forbes wanted to both script and direct the film. The Mills’ parents vetoed him and Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall were recruited to write the script. This was their first film adaptation though they had an amount of experience in the theatre and on television. The film was to be directed by Guy Green, also involved in Allied Film Makers. But he pulled out and the Mills’ parents were persuaded by Attenborough to let Forbes direct. This was Attenborough developing his producer skills and an ability to negotiate successfully with actors, rights’ holders and heads of production companies.  He explained the reluctance of John and Mary Mills as due to Forbes inexperience; this may have been true of direction but he was already more experienced in script writing than Waterhouse and Hall. Attenborough [in his Memoir} also mentions the agent of John Mills and he may have been a contributory factor.

The Waterhouse and Hall script moved the setting from Kent in the novel to the Lancashire countryside around Burnley; a very effective change. Kathy Bostock (Hayley Mills), with her two younger siblings Charles (Alan Barnes) and Nan (Diane Holgate), lives on a farm with their father (Barnard Lee) and their aunt (Elsie Wagstaff), who cares for the household since the death of their mother. All three, with other local children, attend regular Sunday school. And an opening scene shows them listening to a Salvation Army event where a young woman tells them how the world should protect Jesus Christ on his return.

The children have saved three kittens from the attempt by a farmhand, Eddie (Norman Bird) to drown them in a local quarry pool. The children hide the kittens in a barn. Then, later, Kathy finds an injured and bearded man (Alan Bates) hiding in the barn. His response on her waking him is, ‘Jesus Christ’. Taking his words literally Kathy tells her siblings that Jesus Christ has returned. The children care for and hide the man. The audience learn that he is actually a fugitive wanted for murder. Other local children learn the secret and come to see Jesus. However, when his kitten dies, Charles starts to doubt the man is really who they think he is. Meanwhile the police comb the countryside and place warning notices about the fugitive..

At Charles’ birthday party a slip is finally made and the father realises that there is a fugitive in his barn. The man is taken into custody by the police, watched by a large number of children who had come to see Jesus. After he is taken away two young late-comers arrive; Kathy tells them that Jesus will come back.

The strength of the film is in the way that it represents children’s views of the world and cultural issues like religion. The adults in the film do not really pay attention to the children; even at the end the police do not seem that interested in what has happened between the children and the fugitive. Hayley Mills is excellent as the local country girl, despite her sojourn in Hollywood. Alan and Diane are completely convincing as her siblings and Alan in particular has a fine accent. The rest of the children are from the localities and they play their roles with full conviction. Bryan Forbes and his crew obviously worked well with a cast mainly composed of non-professionals. In a tribute programme Hayley Mills also spoke warmly of Attenborough’s role in the production. He is clearly visible and active in photographs and film of the production.

The cinematography by Arthur Ibbetson makes great use of the countryside. There is a particularly famous long shot of the children dancing by trees. As with The Angry Silence Ibbetson is adept in particular in the use of long shots. And this make the film both visually interesting and satisfying. The editing by Max Benedict has a fine rhythm to it. The other standout aspect is the music score by Malcolm Arnold which has a distinct and appropriate feel and makes several scenes memorable as audio.

The script ties in biblical references; these may well have also been in the novel. The children taking bread and wine to ‘Jesus’ is a nice touch. But a scene where Peter’s ‘betrayal’ of Christ is replayed by a child seems a little heavy handed. And at the end, as the Man is searched by police, he stands in a cruciform stance.

Overall though this is fine film. It received very favourable reviews and performed well at the box office. It certainly developed Forbes’ career as a director, and Attenborough’s role as producer.

Black and white, 1.66:1, running time 99 minutes

And earlier review of a 35mm screening.

The Angry Silence, Britain 1960

In his 2008 Memoir Richard Attenborough recalled a discussion whilst on location for Sea of Sand.

“On one particular day, when the ghibli [a hot desert wi8nd] was approaching and all the actors had taken shelter under a groundsheet until it passed, I launched into my favourite career gripe. John Gregson, Michael Craig and the Aussie actor Vincent Ball, listened patiently as I moaned that I’d rather do anything that remain typecast for the rest of my life. I went on to tell them about my great pal who was a wonderful writer, adding that, even if it meant giving up on acting completely, we were determined to make out own films. With typical Antipodean directness, Vince asked what the hell was stopping us. When I said that we hadn’t yet found the right storyline, Michael Craig chipped in to say he and his brother had a synopsis they’d written together, entitled God is a Bad Policeman. It was about a factory hand who, having refused to join a wildcat strike, crosses a picket line and is sent to Coventry by his workmates.” (pages 183 and 184).

In 1959 Attenborough and Brian Forbes founded Beaver Films.

“At the beginning of 1959, when Forbsie [Forbes] had finished the Angry Silence script, we’d cemented our partnership with the formation of a limited company. Our wives had teased us about our eagerness, we named it Beaver Films. To further bolster our shaky credibility, we commissioned a handsome but wildly extravagant letter head from the master engraver, Reynolds Stone.” (page 205).

Attenborough played the leading character, Tom Curtis, not the original intention. They had to seek out funding which led to the screenplay and the production budget, being cut back. Attenborough and Forbes had both been involved in the earlier Boulting Production I’m All Right Jack. There are clear parallels between this title and the Beaver film; notably a wildcat strike and a lone individual breaching the picket line, known as a ‘scab’. I have not seen any statement on a conscious influence but the parallels do seem to indicate that this was so.

Set in a midlands factory, [filmed in Ipswich], the plot has a wildcat strike that splits the workforce and leads to a member being sent to ‘Coventry’; i.e. no other members will speak to him, [the phrase likely emerged in the English Civil War but in this period it was uniformly associated with Trade Unions]. The film opens with a train arriving under the credits and a man (Travers – Alfred Burke), to be met by the shop steward at the factory, Bert Connolly (Bernard Lee). In fact their association is kept quiet and Travers joins the workforce next morning. An accident leads to a confrontation between Connolly and the Works Manager Davis (Geoffrey Kean). The management have already rejected some demands by the Works Committee. At a lunchtime meeting Connolly successfully persuades the union members to vote for a strike; with only one dissentient voice, who points out that they do not have approval from higher up the union, [defined as a ‘wildcat strike’]. This leads to a group of members, including Tom Curtis, crossing the picket line and continue working; the management response is grudging approval. A small group of younger workers, dressed in Teddy Boy style outside of work, begin a campaign of harassment and vandalism. The other workers decide to join the strike. Curtis agrees, but Connolly visits him at home and uses terms like ‘scab’ and ‘blackleg’. The terms are often used for both people breaking strikes and non-union labour; both meanings seem to apply to both terms? Curtis bristles and decides to continue working. An important contract is in the balance and the management make some concessions in order to organise a return to work. The meeting to agree this also makes the decision to send Curtis to ‘Coventry’.

Much of the film is set in Curtis’ home with his pregnant wife, Anna (Pier Angeli) and their lodger Joe Wallace (Michael Craig). There are also their two young children, Brian (Stephen Lindo) and Cathy (Marion Green). We see them at meals, relaxing or arguing, parenting and together at night-time.  This is the only domestic setting in the film. It becomes conflicted when Joe goes along with the ‘sending to Coventry’ of Tom. Added to this, young Brian, is bullied and tarred at the junior school he attends. This causes Tom, alone in the canteen, to harangue the other workers, who listen in silence.

The local and national press pick up on the story of the ‘wildcat strike’, i.e. unofficial; and on Tom being ostracised. A national newspaper appears with the headline’ ‘Father-to-be sent to coventry’. Now television cameras appear and Alan Whicker, [a noted reporter of the time] is seen on television trying to interview the union members on the issue. This heightens the tensions at the factory. In another stormy meeting Connolly demands that the management sack Curtis, implementing a work to rule. Another row between Connolly and Davis leads to the shop steward once more calling the men out on strike.

The picket line now has both police and the press alongside the striking workers. Tom breaks the picket line claiming that ‘no-one told me about the strike’. That night Joe is told that Tom has been injured in an accident. At the hospital he finds a distraught Anna and sits with her through the night. Come morning Tom’s condition is stable but he has lost the sight in one eye. Joe realises that Tom has been attacked by the little group of young workers. He chases down Eddie (Brian Bedford) and beats a confession out of him. He hauls Eddie down to the picket line. Here a Union Official is trying to persuade the strikers to return to work, but they will not listen to him. Joe addresses the picket line, now with most of the workers there. He tells them what has happened to Tom. The strikers are shamefaced. Meanwhile. Travers slips away and catches a train back to London; this last seen under the closing cast list.

Travis in the factory

Unlike I’m All Right Jack, this film suggests that unidentified subversives have provoked the strike. The obvious but unnamed target is the Communist Party of Great Britain. The media at the time frequently blamed ‘communist subversives’ for wildcat strikes. In the film the purpose seems to be to sabotage the contract on offer to the film; of national importance we are told by the Union official.

The film relies on hints and suggestions playing on common assumptions of the time; but it is poor on detail. The original works’ committee demands are not spelled out though David dismisses them as only about ‘toilets’ and such like. Equally, the management concessions are not detailed. Vague assertions like that of Davis are repeated in reviews as if they are accurate. Davis also claims that the real motivation is to obtain a closed shop. But the film suggests subversion with Travers arriving from and returning to London; and regularly phoning unidentified people for contributions. This is reinforced by the Union Official claiming that the striking workers are ‘sheep’; a point of view expressed in similar ways by Travers, Connolly and Davis. This is typical of the 1950s British film, and in longer term of the dominant ethos in the industry. The Angry Silence is a rare example of addressing a strike at a factory. Unlike I’m All Right Jack, it does actually offer frequent scenes on the factory floor, but offers little of shots of actual labour in action. Even the working-class dramas of the 1960s were weak on this aspect. One has to look for the early films of Ken Loach for actual and sympathetic filming of organised labour in action; and these were shot for television.

The style of the film is broadly conventional but it makes excellent use of locations, both in the town and at the factory. Arthur Ibbetson’s cinematography picks out characters and settings; and it uses close-ups to dramatic and emotional effect. In particular there are a number of high angle and low angle camera shots that suggest comment on the plot. Thus when Anna finds Brian in the school playground we watch from a high angle long shot. A similar technique is used at the final shot as the picket stand in shamed silence. Both dramatise the point-of-view of the film-makers. And Anthony Harvey’s editing keeps the narrative developing and also produces comments on the characters, especially on the influence of Travers. Guy Green, who had worked with all of the producers and writers, directs effectively.

Attenborough gives a fine performance as Tom Curtis; at times forthright and at others vulnerable and agonised. Pier Angeli is also good as his wife; their scenes together are very well presented. Whether the role was adapted to suit Angeli as an Italian character or whether the character was scripted as Italian is unclear. The character was, in fact, the au pair with the Managing Director of the factory when Tom courted her. She is excitable; the first time we met Tom he is complaining to Joe because he had a scene with Anna when she told him she was pregnant. It is she that finds Brian, tarred and brutalised, in the school playground. She is also forthright, confronting Joe over his ‘fence sitting’.

Craig as Joe is convincing. He is not articulate, as is apparent in his final speech to the assembled strikers. He is also a womaniser, it is suggested that he has fathered two illegitimate children. This is typical of the early laissez faire attitude in the Curtis home; he is only jokingly taken to task. During the film he chases a young woman in the pay office, Pat (Penelope Horner) but when she wants a serious relationship rather than casual sex he loses interest. But she re-appears at the climax; it is she that tells Joe of Tom’s accident. And after he addresses the strikers, finally coming off the fence, she follows him as he leaves.

Bernard Lee’s Connolly as a much closer approximation to a shop steward than that of Sellers in the Boulting film. Whether he is a member of the Communist Party is unclear, but it would seen that he is at least a fellow-traveler. However, he is also an old-fashioned trade unionist, at one point harking back to the times of the hunger marchers of the 1930s. Travers is rather scornful of Connolly as he is of the work force. His identity is never made clear but he is clearly meant to represent subversion, attributed by the film to Communists of some persuasion. Travers speaks little apart to Connolly. But his presence is constantly emphasised. At the union meeting he is at the front and side of the frame whilst Connolly is deeply staged. And the camera picks him out on the picket line.

Geoffrey Keen’s Davis is as confrontational as Connolly. He does not take the demands of the work force seriously. But he does take the threats of disruption seriously. This is also true of Lawrence Naismith’s Martindale, the managing director, and founder of the firm. He is proud of being a self-made man. He urges action on the Board of the Firm, an unprepossessing bunch.

The trio of young workers / Teddy Boys is led by Eddie. He, like Joe, is claimed to have fathered a couple of illegitimate children. He is a pretty negative character, yet subservient to the general run of the local union. There is both the vandalism in the first walk-out and then the attack on Tom. His two accomplices just follow his lead.

The journalist on offer are more professional than those in the Boulting title, but they are quite prepared to use people as fodder for a good story. Bryan Forbes appears as a smarmy example. And the real-life Alan Whicker pursues a similar course.

The never identified Communist Party is a rather fictional version. No-where in the film is there any sense of how capital exploits labour and the concept of surplus value. Despite its failings in the 1950s compared with the more radical 1930s Party, the organisation still subscribed to this central concept of Marx and Engels. This is something that reviews failed to address and indeed most did not really address how the film uses the idea of conspiracy to fuel it narrative. One review took up the issue; I think it was probably that of Nina Hibbin, who wrote for the Morning Star. Certainly Attenborough did not show any understanding of how the exploitation of Labour works in capitalist Britain. He later commented.

“On a number of occasions following the production, Forbsie and I have been accused of being anti-trade union. Nothing could further from the truth, certainly as far as I am concerned. … [he refers to his equity membership] …

The Angry Silence was not an attack on organised labour. It was an attack on the bully boys, on subversion and on the lunatic far left fringe of the trade union and the Labour Movements.”

In fact, a ban on the movie was organised in Wales at cinemas run by Working Men’s Clubs. Attenborough visited one and after his presentation the ban was lifted. The members presumably, as likewise Attenborough and Forbes, subscribed to the concept of a ‘fair day’s pay for a fair work? An interest and value that Marx deconstructs in Capital Volume 1.

It is instructive that Attleborough resigned from the Labour Party after the 1981 Party Conference; an occasion when the right wing held forth about ‘entryists’ and ‘infiltrators’; just like Travers.

Black and white, 1.66:1, 95 minutes

SOS Pacific, Britain 1959

Eva Bartok, Richard Attenborough and Jean Anderson

This adventure film was originally worked on by Joseph Losey. However, he was vetoed because he was on the Hollywood blacklist. The effect of the blacklist in Britain was varied; it was not always a problem for Losey and Cy Endfield, another HUAC victim, managed most of the time. The finished production also suffered; in later years it was issued in a colourised video version. It as scripted from an original story be Robert Westerby; who also scripted Attenborough’s earlier title Sea of Sand. And Bryan Forbes, soon to work with Attenborough on their own production, scripted additional dialogue.

The film opens on a South Sea island with Whitey Mullen (Richard Attenborough), a petty criminal, avoiding people to whom he owes money and also tracking Mark Reisner (Eddie Constantine), wanted by the police on the larger French colonial island. Soon, both end up on a seaplane owned and piloted by Jack Bennett (John Gregson) with navigator Willy (Cec Linder) and flight stewardess Teresa (Pier Angeli). There are six passengers on the flight, apart from Whitey and Mark, there are Petersen (Clifford Evans), taking Mark under arrest: Miss Shaw (Jean Anderson), a spinster en route to visit her brother: Maria (Eva Bartok), far sexier than Miss Shaw: and Dr. Strauss, (Gunnar Möller) a scientist on a round-the-world trip. After taking off they note that there is a hurricane warning for their route.

Things go wrong on the ageing seaplane. The navigator dies in a poison chemical release and Jack is seriously injured. He is able to advise Mark who pilots and then brings the plane down by a remote island. Reaching land the survivors find that they are alongside a small atoll where an atom bomb (some reviews suggest an H bomb) is soon to be detonated. The problems increase when Whitey flees taking the only usable life dingy.

Mark, as an experienced sailor and swimmer, has to try and reach the atoll and disable it before denotation.  Dr. Strauss, a physicist, explains how he should do this. Jack dies in an act of self-sacrifice, saving Mark from sharks in the water. Whitey re-appears with a gun on the Atoll as Mark climbs the tower bearing the device. Mark is able to knock him down the tower and he falls to his death. At the last minute Mark disables the device.

The survivor are rescued by the US navy; {I was expecting it to be a French detonation]. Teresa, who has transferred her affections from Jack to Mark, is faced with a corpse on the rescue boat. But it is Whitey and she is reunited with Mark. In a familiar trope Petersen drops his handcuffs over the side.

It is not really a satisfactory script, though the cast struggle to make their characters convincing. Attenborough works well as the slimy but insecure Whitey; he is dismissive of several titles in the late 1950s. The other actors are reasonably good, though Constantine is his usual stone faced hero. The film was directed three titles in a row with Richard Attenborough; the other two are much better. The cinematography, sound are conventional but well performed; the film was shot on location on the Canary Islands. The problem is clearly in the script which  tries to heighten tension by cramming everything into an unbelievable time frame. Thus, neither Whitey’s nor Mark’s situation are properly developed in order to explain their motivations: we learn that Jack, an alcoholic, was an observer of the atom bombs dropped on Japan but this interesting aspect is just a passing mention: and Teresa’s transfer of affection from Jack to Mark seems to rest on her falling in his arms when the plane bucks.

Richard Attenborough now went into production with Bryan Forbes; he continued to act but now also worked as producer. Pier Angeli benefited by being cast in the Attenborough/ Forbes independent production. Constantine did better, working for Jean-Luc Godard on a seriously challenging thriller. And Joseph Losey went on to make a superior film addressing the nuclear threat in The Damned (1962).

Black and white, 1.85:1, running time 90 minutes

Jet Storm, Britain 1959

Patrick Alllen, Paul Carpenter, David Kossoff and Richard Attenborough

This film was written and directed by Cy Endfield. Enfield was a Hollywood director, blacklisted and then working in the British Film Industry. Endfield had already worked with one of the stars of this film, Stanley Baker, notably on the memorable Hell Drivers (1957). Later Enfield and Baker formed Diamond Films for which they made Zulu (1964).

This film is an aviation movie with the crew and passengers facing a potential disaster. This is in the form of Ernest Tilley Richard Attenborough), a passenger suffering from mental illness. The illness followed the death of his young daughter by a hit-and-run driver. Tilley believes that another passenger, James Brock (George Rose), is the man responsible. Tilley is an expert in ‘unstable compounds’ and has constructed a miniature bomb which he has concealed on the BOAC air plane, en route from London to New York. The BOAC jet plane service operated daily, with a capacity of 31 passengers, first class only and taking ten hours. The service had only recently been introduced and so was topical. On this flight there the total on board is 31, crew and passengers. The plane would have been Comet, but this is not the model that we see. On screen the plane has an accessible luggage compartment and a lounge in the lower portion; both important for the plot.

The passengers comprise several couples: a family with a single child: several single men: and several single women. We hear to some extent from all the passengers; the crew are six, but only three matter, the Captain (Stanley Baker), the co-pilot (Neil McCallum) and the stewardess (Virginia Maskell).

Tilley is accompanied by his wife Carol (Mai Zetterling). She was a nurse who married him after his discharge from mental health treatment. When other passengers notice something odd it is her that the Captain first questions. Then he confronts Tilley himself; these interviews take place in the lounge with other passengers requested to remain in the main cabin. Tilley refuses to answer questions and a search reveals nothing.

As the flight continues tensions rise. The captain has the crew search the cabin; and then the luggage compartment. The passengers become disturbed and the stewardess tries drinks, persuasion and orders to try and regain calm. The responses vary and we are privy to several different discussions. Some want the Captain to organise what action is possible: some try to help, Dr Bergstein talks sympathetically to Tilley to no avail: Jewish characters palyed by Jewish actors often have this sort of role in the 1950s. But another group consider violence in order to force Tilley to reveal the whereabouts of the bomb. At one point they manage to assault him and the captain intervenes; later two of them, Mulliner (Patrick Allen) and  George Tower (Paul Carpenter), make another attempt and Dr Bergstein attempts to halt them. Then the same group consider attacking Brock so that Tilley’s motivation to blow up the plane dissipates. This results is a fracas and a window is knocked out, this at 35,000 feet; Brock being whisked out to his death. The co-pilot takes the plane in a dive whilst oxygen masks drop down for passengers. The plane survives but even though Brock is now dead Tilley remains obdurate.

Finally, Angelico Como (Diane Cilento) persuades the captain to let the sole child on board talk to Tilley. The young boy Jeremy (Jeremy Judge) has actually been asleep for most of the flight. Unexpectedly his approach softens Tilley who reveals he is carrying a remote control which he disarms. Whilst the passengers and crew indulge in relief Tilley takes poison.

As the plane approaches New York we see some of the crew and passengers relaxing and celebrating. There is hint of romance between the Captain and Angelico: a definite romance between co-pilot and stewardess: a reconciliation between a couple intending divorce: a celebration between two sets of passengers who only met on the flight: but no sight of the responses of the other passengers, including the men who were responsible for the death of Brock.

Attenborough’s performance as the driven Tilley is very good. There is not the usual display of vulnerabilities but an absolute determination and a psychotic view. At one point he wishes for a bomb big enough to ‘kill everybody’. The supporting cast do their best, but the characterisations are not properly developed. Stanly Baker convinces as the captain faced with an imponderable situation. And at times, characters like the stewardess or Angelico contribute effectively. But other characters have little to work with; notably Mai Zetterling as the wife who becomes irrelevant.

Cy Endfield can direct action sequences and build up dramatic tension as his other films show. But the script has presented characters mainly there for plot purposes; and the plot is poorly constructed. Thus it is hardly credible that a nurse who worked in a mental institution could marry a patient without any comprehension of his incomplete cure. And the bomb search is hardly credible. The captain misses the remote when he searches Tilley; later Tilley states that if it had been found it would have automatically detonated; this feels like an afterthought. In fact the actual bomb has been fixed by Tilley under a wing; a fact that the audience learn long before the travellers. That he was able to do so whilst boarding at London Airport seems highly unlikely.

But what slows down the drama and the plot are recurring conversations between passengers; conveniently, usually in pairs. This seems designed to display their differing responses and the increased insecurity as passengers learn more. But there are too many, too often. And, oddly, at the end, having heard all the passengers at some point, we only hear a few of them. This includes two characters who are now widows. And it includes several male characters who, one would think, have to answer regarding a possible criminal act.  This seems to be a rush to land the plane and end the drama.

Black and white, running time 99 minutes; cut by ten minutes in the USA. The aspect ratio was likely 1.66:1

I’m All Right Jack, Britain 1959

Richard Attenborough, Margaret Rutherford, Dennis Price and Ian Carmichael

This film satire was a popular release which also garnered good reviews and several awards. It is a satire, supposedly on British Industry, but really it seems a rather misanthropic attack on British culture of the period, with multiple targets. The plot features the main characters from the earlier Privates Progress, though the representation is more stereotypical and more pronounced than the previous comedy. This film has similar set of writers and is also taken from a Hackney novel. His jaundiced views included,

“Hackney’s novel was drawn from his observation of his lead-swinging comrades and the upper-class twits who commanded them during his wartime period at Maidstone barracks and at camps in India.” (Obituary in The Times)

Now it is the late 1950s and the world portrayed has moved on from the war and its immediate peace time. The tone of the film is set with the opening credits and the title song, sang by Al Saxon. It targets all and sundry as obsessed with self-interest and entirely lacking in any community spirit. Even groups and classes demand, ‘what’s in it for me?’, as the hero complains in the film.

The film opens at the with a pre-credit sequence set just at the moment at which Private’s Progress ends. We are introduced to Sir John Kennaway, financier and establishment figure, who learns that the war has ended. The film cuts to the celebrations by crowds of Londoners and a voice over tells us that Kennaway’s world will change; though the tone suggests this is not for the better. This is succinctly summarized by a squaddie up a lamppost (Victor Maddern) who gives the ‘V’ sign, and not that celebrating victory.

We then meet Stanley Windrush (Ian Carmichael). He is visiting his father, Miles Malleson, who has retired to a nudist colony. Stanley is the only person fully dressed. We then see him set out to get  a job. The University Board provides him with eleven interviews; we see him fail a couple with familiar disastrous results. Stanley is staying with is Aunt Dolly (Margaret Rutherford). There he meets his uncle Bertram Tracepurcel (Dennis Price) and his old friend Sydney Cox (Richard Attenboor8uhg), now DeVere Cox. Though there is no mention, given the resolution of Private’s Progress, they have all served time in prison. Uncle Bertram offers to assist Stanley to get a job at a company of which he is Chairman, Missiles. Ltd. He advises Stanley not to mention the family connection in order not to annoy the members of the workforce.

In a later scene we learn that this is Bertram’s and Sydney’s latest fraudulent scheme. Together with the representative of a Middle East government which has placed a missile order with the firm, Mr. Mohammed (Marne Maitland). They plan that Stanley will disrupt the factory enabling them to get the order removed to Union Jack Foundries, a firm owned by Sydney. The move will raise the price whilst Bertram sells off his shares in Missiles Ltd.

We move to the factory where Stanley immediately causes problems, both for the Works Committee led by Fred Kite (Peter Sellers) and for Personnel Manager, the familiar Major Hitchcock (Terry-Thomas). Kite is a supporter of the Soviet Union but has not lost the pre-war deference. He invites Stanley to lodge with him and tries to lend him books on the Soviet Union and Lenin. Stanley is more interested in Kite’s buxom daughter, Cynthia (Liz Fraser).

Then Stanley is suborned into assisting a time and motion study expert at the factory and demonstrates that the work on fork lift trucks can be done much faster than union rates allow. When the works committee are faced with the new timings Kite calls a strike. The works member also decide to send Stanley ‘to Coventry’ for a month; [a tactic in which union members refuse to speak with or work with a dissident, scab]. Bertram, wanting to heighten the conflict, tips off the press, who turn up eager to interview Stanley and take his photograph with Cynthia. The publicity brings Aunt Dolly who tells Stanley that ‘gentlemen’ do not strike. So Stanley breaks the picket line and insists on going into work, though of course, there is little work for him to do.

The strike prompts the cancellation of the missile contract which is now awarded to Union Jack Foundries. However, as Sydney celebrates he discovers that his works have come out in sympathy. Soon, strikes break out everywhere; and it looks like a general strike across Britain. Desperate to save their scheme Bertram sends Major Hitchcock to try and arrange a deal with Kite. Kite’s wife and daughter have gone on strike and left home when they discovered that Stanley has been evicted as a strike breaker. Kite’s house is a sad mess. However, he and Hitchcock discuss their common problem and Kite has the bright idea that Stanley should resign due to ‘ill-health bought on be overwork’.

The film now cuts to a BBC television discussion programme ‘Argument’. The four protagonist are all on the panel. Whilst the participants prepare Sydney visits Stanley in his dressing room with a bag of cash. His share of the profits from the fraud. Stanley is shocked into silence. But when invited to speak on the panel he launches into a diatribe against the other three members, industry, workers and the general population, using the phrase ‘I’m All Right Jack’. He ends his peroration by emptying the bag of money on the table. There is a rush by the audience to grab the money, soon joined by other people in the television centre. It becomes a minor riot and ends in chaos.

The scene now shifts to a court hearing. The judge exonerates Bertram, Sydney and Mohammed but berates Stanley’s conducts. However, he allows Stanley to be ‘bound over to keep the peace’ for twelve months, citing ‘illness bought on by overwork’.

The film concludes with Stanley back at the nudist colony, now also naked apart from the newspaper that he reads. Presumably the trio of fraudsters have pocketed their loot. The factories have gone back to work, within the required limitations laid down by unions, and everyone carries on following their self-interest.

The film received many positive reviews and was at the top of the British box office for 1959. It also received two awards from BAFTA, for Peter Sellers and the screenplay. The cockney accents of Sellers and Irene Handl were also commended. However, it also caused some controversy because of the representations in the film; especially of trade unions. The film has a series of characters, but most can be seen to be members of classes, class fractions or other social groups. So we have the industrialist, represented by Tracepurcel and Cox. They are fraudsters; it is difficult to believe that after criminal convictions they could become heads of companies. We don’t see any other representatives of the capitalist class proper. Then there is the manager at Missiles. Ltd factory, Major Hitchcock. He is mainly interested in a quiet life. However, we do see other managers when Stanley goes for job interviews. They are clearly driven by commercial imperatives, but also seen relatively efficient.

Mr. Mohammed is supposedly from a Middle East state; Marne Maitland was born in Bengal. We see him at a board meeting with colleagues, but they all wear the keffiyeh and do not speak. We do see Maitland purloining cigars on the quiet. There are no other black characters in the film; I could not see any among the extras. We do get several uses of the term ‘blacklegs’; and at one point the union members complain about ‘blacks’ taking jobs. This is the unthinking racialism of the period, though some films also include overt racism.

Then there is the media. The main representatives are the press journalists who turn up on Kite’s door. They seem mainly interested in sensations and titivating stories. The newspapers that they write for are seen briefly and seem uniformly anti-union. We do see what appears to be BBC television, but whilst rather conservative in their presentation, it does not seem partisan.

Then there are the Trade Unionist and the working class. This is the main problem area in the film. Trade Unionists are represented by Fred Kite. His character was sketched out by the Boulting Brothers and then developed by Sellers; the Boulting may have been motivated by a Union dispute in the industry. Kite clearly is a caricature and not really realistic. Among Seller’s development was the Hitler style moustache which is apparently deliberate. He dominates the works committee. The Union positions are contradictory; for example they first argue for Stanley’s sacking but then argue that it would set a precedent for workers to be sacked for incompetence. Such contradictions seem designed to make Kite and the committee a joke.

And Kite’s admiration for the Soviet Union is also pretty weakly presented: there is no indication that he actually knows about the Soviet Union or has actually read Lenin. At least we are spared a bad joke about Joseph Stalin.

The worker he represents are an unprepossessing lot. They skive at work: use demarcation to avoid changes to their schedules: a group of them, classified as redundant, sit playing cards: and the only time they move at pace is when the strike is called. They are recognisable from the earlier Private’s Progress but have even fewer redeeming features than the lower ranks in that film. We do not see the workers at Union Jack, apart from those coming out on strike. We do see two women workers when in a job interview Stanley gets a tour of a chocolate factory. One sneezes over a conveyor belt of chocolates and the other sits painting her nails alongside the said belt.

Two women characters do stand out, Aunt Dolly and Mrs. Kite: Aunt Dolly, unknowingly, subverts Tracepurcel’s plan: Mrs. Kite responds to her husband’s strike with one of her own. They meet, and, despite class differences, find they have things in common. Both are against the changes in which there relatives / /husband are involved. This harks back to the opening of the film and the sarcastic reference to changes. It also looks forward to the end where Stanley effectively opts out. But it a patriarchal system; this is not a choice for the two women. In the court scene both are back in their subservient places. It is only the women at the nudist colony, seen only briefly who can opt out.

This restrictive set of values are, of course, the ones set out in the title song. A song that labels the whole population as dedicated to self-interest. The audience at the television studio seem composed mainly of ordinary working people. Their response when a pile of money appears is a minor riot.  Partly this reflects the dominant social context of the time. Mark Dunton has an interesting article on the film and ‘Britain in 1959’ on The National Archives addressing the wider context.

The negative representation of the working class is a recurring feature in the Boulting Brothers’ films of the 1950s. And it is a wider problem in the British Film Industry. Comedies in particular are given to stereotyping, often negative in its humour. And, as is often remarked, the films tend to privilege the middles classes; in Britain the idea of the middle class is suitably vague but it tends towards people whose status is petty bourgeois, i.e. not engaged in manual labour and not directly exposed to the extraction of surplus value.

This was a sad change from the war years. Fortunately, it was also to lose its dominance in British film in the 1960s: Alan Sillitoe had already published the novel that was to become the 1960 film Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. However, the failings of British film in relation to the working class and working labour continue in later decades. In 1999 the BFI compiled a list of the top British films of the century, polling members of the industry. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning was at 14: I’m All Right Jack 7was at 47: The Man in the White Suit was at 58: and Brassed Off at 85: and one film that showed people at work for the whole running time, Fire Were Started at 89. Ken Loach’s Kes was at 7 but none of his films directly about working people and labour appear. It is interesting to compare I’m All Right Jack with the earlier The Man in the White Suit. The story of Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness) has some parallels with the story of Stanley Windrush. Both want to use new technology to increase the efficiency of the industry in which they are working. They encounter resistance from both the owners and the workers. In Sidney’s case the owning capitalist class are indeed that; the dominant controls in the cloth industry. And they show up Tracepurcel and Cox for the amateurs they are. Meanwhile the workers are defensive but they also work; their resistance is to do with job security rather than the right to be idle. I also think the 1951 film is far better that that of 1959, despite that the latter has a higher place in the ranking.

There is another area of influence for the Boulting film. Richard Attenborough’s role in the film is small; smaller than in Private’s Progress, though it is clearly the same character. But, only a year later Attenborough, will produce a film that clearly owed a lot to I’m All Right Jack, The Angry Silence. A worker strike breaks and is sent to Coventry. The tone of the later film is different; and the conspiracy model in the later film is different. But the parallels are marked.

Black and white, 1.66:1, running time 105 minutes

 

Danger Within, Britain 1959

Richard Todd, Vincent Ball, Richard Attenborough, William Franklyn and Bernard Lee

This film has several strands: a prisoner-of war drama: set in Italy rather than Germany: and with a detection plot alongside that of imprisonment. The film is adapted from a novel by Michael Gilbert, Death in Captivity. The multiple strands are clearly due to Gilbert: his staple was crime writing and he had himself experienced an Italian prison camp in Italy during World War II. The screen writers were Bryan Forbes and Frank Harvey, the latter frequently wrote for the Boulting Brothers. The director was Don Chaffey, who directed an Attenborough previous movie.

It is 1943 and the predominately British prisoners experience a series of setbacks in escape attempts. Not only do they fail but the escapees are killed by Captain Benucci (Peter Arne) and the guards. The escape committee, led by Lieutenant Colonel David Baird (Richard Todd), suspect that there is an informer in their ranks. Their main suspect is a Greek prisoner, Lieutenant Coutoules (Cyril Shaps). However, Coutoules’ body is found in an escape tunnel in mysterious circumstances. The suspicions die down, but then another escape ends in failure and the death of three prisoners. At this point, in a move that may have followed Hitchcock’s example, the audience learn the identity of the informer whilst he remains unknown to the other prisoners. Matters come to a climax with the armistice signed between the western Allies and Italy; the prisoners learn that the Germans will take control of the camp. Captain ‘Bunter’ Phillip (Richard Attenborough) now discovers that the traitor is his best friend and fellow tunneller, Captain Tony Long William Franklyn). The commander among the prisoners, Lieutenant Colonel Huxley (Bernard Lee) takes over control of the escape committee. His daring plan is a daylight escape of all the prisoners through the remaining tunnel: covered as far as possible by lots of activities out in the open and then a performance of Hamlet in the theatre hut by the camp’s amateur theatrical group.

Richard Todd is the lead player and there is a definite conflict between him and Bernard Lee’s commander over the handling of escapes. Lee follows Attenborough in the pre-title credits. Attenborough plays his character in a style familiar from his other 1950 films. The difference is that rather than pursuing fiddles he pursues taking advantage of the guards. The Italians, unfortunately, are the stereotypes of British war movies, buffoons. The exception is Peter Arne’s captain; he is portrayed as the sort of sadist found in German characters in earlier US war movies. However, Arne makes him a more interesting character. The other British prisoners are played by familiar faces; whilst they are types, the actors do manage to give them some distinctive qualities.

The idea of exposing an informer is also the plot of Hollywood’s earlier Stalag 17 (1953); this had the advantage of being written and directed by Billy Wilder. In both films  a lead character identifies the method used to contact the authorities and then identifies the culprit. The film was shot in Britain, including the locations. And there is some Italian dialogue in the film.

Black and white, 1.66:1. running time 101 minutes

 

Sea of Sand, Britain 1958

This film is from an original script by Robert Westerby with the story by Sean Fielding. The drama presents the Long Range Desert Group, units which operated behind enemy lines across the North African deserts in World War II. Shot on location around Tripoli; at the period of the story part of an Italian colony that achieved independence in 1951 as Libya. The film also received support from the British army units stationed there and also technical advice from a member of the Long Range Group during the war.

The film opens with on-screen titles explaining about the Long Range Desert Group. Then we see a truck driven by Trooper Brody (Richard Attenborough) and carrying Captain Bill Williams (John Gregson); a regular Amy officer with the Royal Engineers. Williams arrives at the Group’s base where he finds that officers and men operate with much greater informality than in the regular army. His job there is to accompany an expedition led by Captain Bill Cotton (Michael Craig).Their task is to drive unobserved across the desert and destroy a German army depot; this has to be done at a set time and day.

The squad set out in five trucks with about fifteen members. En route they are strafed by a Luftwaffe air plane and then attacked by a German Armoured car. They fend off the attack but lose two trucks and six men who are buried in the desert. They manage to arrive at the depot on time. Williams’ task is to find a route through the surrounding mine fields, which he does successfully. Cotton and the other men successfully destroy the depot but lose a man in the process.

They also lose the signal truck which they need to send the success of the raid to headquarters. What complicates the situation is that they have, unexpectedly, seen Panzer tanks, whose position needs to be communicated to the base.

More battles occur on the way back. They lose more men: including Percy Herbert as Corporal “Blanco” White. He is badly wounded and has to be left behind, When the trucks run out of petrol the remaining six men have to walk; about 40 miles. Meanwhile a Luftwaffe air plane and German armed vehicles are in pursuit. Williams dies in a self-sacrificial action to enable the other reach their base. A wounded Cotton leads the remaining men back to base. The report is passed on to Cairo; actually on the eve of the start of the Battle of El Alamein.

The cast are good and convincing. Whilst the plot if fairly conventional there is also interesting byplay between characters. ‘Blanco’ is a particular friend of Brody and Attenborough imbues their parting with genuine emotion. The direction by Guy Green, with Wilkie Cooper on cinematography, is well done and makes effective use of locations.

There is an interesting motif across the movie. On arrival Williams has to bunk with Cotton. He finds an old photograph under his bed of a young woman. He gives it to Cotton, who tears it up. Later Cotton finds a photograph of a women belonging to Williams. Williams tells Cotton he is happily married with four children. Cotton’s comments suggest that his wife left him whilst he was away on service. Then when ‘Blanco’ is wounded and left behind the officers leave him a machine gun to fire at the Germans; and a radio to occupy him. Lying in a shelter in the sun he places a photograph against the radio. He manages to shoot up a German truck and is then himself shot. The photograph blows across the ground and we can see that it shows ‘Blanco’, his wife and several children.

It seems that this was the film where Michael Craig got talking to Richard Attenborough; a conversation that partly led to their first production, The Angry Silence. Also of interest are the parallels between this film and the US production Bitter Victory. The latter subverts the typical desert wartime movie. But as it precedes Sea of Sand [1957 versus 1958) it would seem both are working to earlier examples of this drama.

Black and white, 97 minutes – the aspect ratio seems to be academy; there was not a consistent use of aspect ratio in the late 1950s. On 35mm this would involve the projectionist inserting the appropriate plates in the cinema projectors.

The Man Upstairs, Britain 1958

This film was produced by ACT Film Ltd: this was a film production unit set up by the trade union Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians. Between 1950 and 1981 they made 25 movies; mainly commercial properties. This title was scripted by three writers; one of whom was Robert Dunbar, an active ACT members. The film was directed by Don Chaffey, who started out on Children’s Films and then worked both in cinema and on television. One other interesting credit is Ralph Bond ‘in charge of production’; this was his usual role but in the 1930s he made several films featuring left wing themes and the Communist Party of Great Britain.

The film is set inside and outside a London boarding house. In one of the two top flat, number 8, we find John Wilson (Richard Attenborough). Late at night he cannot sleep; he feels the cold but cannot light the gas fire. So, he goes in search of assistance; displaying a nervous and highly strung demeanour. Nicholas (Charles Houston), in flat 7, has his model staying overnight and closes the door on him. On the next lower floor he tries Pollen (Kenneth Griffith) but this goes badly and Hilton unintentionally knocks him down. This leads to Pollen calling the police. Events now spiral out of control.

Two constables arrive but Hilton knocks on of them down the stairs and he is badly injured. Hilton locks himself in his room where we see that he has a revolver. Over the next hour more police arrive; including an Inspector (Bernard Lee) who believes they need to use necessary force to deal with Hilton. There is also the Borough Mental Health Officer (Donald Houston) who counsels patience and trying to talk Hilton out of his room. The remaining occupants, including Nicholas, Pollen, the landlady, and an older lady are made to go downstairs to the flat of Mrs. Barnes (Dorothy Allison), who has two sons and has had some contact with Hilton.

The situation continues to escalate; with the fire brigade called with an escape ladder: an army officer as the Inspector tries to obtain tear gas: a searchlight which is shone on the window of Hilton’s room: and an increasing crowd of onlookers.

The film tends to cut between Hilton in his room, clearly disturbed, and lying in the shadows: the Inspector and the police: activities outside the house: and the other occupants, all together, and debating the pros and cons of dealing with Hilton. Mrs. Barnes finds an old note with a telephone number. This is for Helen Grey (Virginia Maskell), who turns out to be Hilton’s fiancée. It also turns out that his real name is Peter Watson and that his psychological problems started with the death of a colleague in a laboratory accident. She tries to coax Hilton from his room but fails. Then when the police are preparing to force an entry Mrs. Barnes also attempts to persuade Watson [as his is now} to come out and she succeeds. He leave in the ambulance. Police and fire brigade disperse as do the crowd outside. And the residents are presumably left to return to their rooms and bed, though it is now early morning.

The film is well produced; there are a number of high and low angle shots on the staircase where much action occurs, and also outside of the house. Richard Attenborough’s performance is very fine. Capturing the disturbed feelings of his character. The supporting cast are generally fine: Allison as Mrs. Barnes is an important character in the narrative. However, its construction does feel a little obvious. Gradually building up the characters and actions: at the same time building up the tension. And the cutting between the police and the tenants in particular does feel like a constructed debate on the issue of mental health; and, of course, paralleling the story of the good Samaritan compared with the other passersby in the New Testament. It feels like a consciously didactic narrative; though this is not an approach typical of ACT productions.

The cinematography, which effectively builds the tension of the narrative, is by Gerald Gibbs. he also worked on the rather different Whisky Galore (1949). John Trumper edited the film  together, involving a continuous changes of set and character: he was to work on Attenborough’s later film, Danger Within.

Black and white, 1.66:1, 88 minutes.

Dunkirk, Britain 1958

Richard Attenborough and Victor Maddern

This film dramatises one of the most famous actions of World War II and an almost mythic events of the war for the British. This was Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of over 300,000 British troops: troops from the dominions and colonies: and troops of the French army. This followed the startling victories by the German military and the collapse of the allied forces defending France and Belgium

The film has three major strands: parts of the official history with newsreel and found footage: the fictional experiences of a small squad of British troops left behind in the retreat: and the fictional story of two civilians involved in the flotilla of small boats involved in the evacuation.

The film’s script was adapted from two books and other sources, The film is relies on the The Big Pick-Up by Elleston Trevor which follows the adventures of a small squad of British troops making their way to the Dunkirk Beaches. Also Dunkirk co-authored by Lt Col Ewan Butler and Major J. S. Bradford; it is a history based on the author’s own experiences in the event.

The film required extensive support from the War Office: actual troops, equipment and technical advice. This took place at the script stage and certainty led to changes in the original screenplay. This was especially true of the story concerning the squad of British soldiers. Changes were also made from the novel because of the requirements of the British Board of Film Censors. It would seem that both the inclusion of scenes involving the High Command and a final on-screen title were the result of War Office pressure. It seems likely that the civilian story was developed by an early writer, W. P. Lipscomb [uncredited] and may have been added to by David Divine, who was a correspondent in the war.

The film opens with newsreels intercut with a satirical cartoon. The camera pulls back from a Pathé Gazette on a screen to show British troops of the British Expeditionary Force in France watching entertainment. Here we meet John Mills as Corporal “Tubby” Binns, Robert Urquhart as Private Mike Russell, Ray Jackson as Private Barlow, Ronald Hines as Private Miles, who are the original squad. Later joined by other privates/airmen but also suffering losses. Several extensive sequences followed the actions and travails of the squad as they lose their regiment and then struggle to rejoin it and reach the Dunkirk beaches and the evacuation. These sequences demonstrate the prowess of the advancing Germans but also their brutality; they strafe a column of refugees on a road needed for their armoured vehicles.

In between we meet the civilians: Richard Attenborough as John Holden, Bernard Lee as Charles Foreman, Sean Barrett as Frankie, Holden’s young apprentice. Foreman is a war correspondent and from the start he displays a critical attitude to the Ministry of Information and the conduct of the war. His wife, Maxine Audley as Diana Foreman, does not fully share his critical attitude. They also have a son who is at boarding school. John Holden runs a garage but has also branched out into wartime contracts, employing Frankie and several local women to manufacture buckles for the army. He has a young wife, Patricia Plunkett as Grace Holden, and they have a new-born baby. Foreman and Holden both live in a small town on the River Medway and both are boat owners. Both seem fairly affluent and middle-class. Their boats are requisitioned for the evacuation but they also volunteer to go with the boats.

All the leading characters meet up on the Dunkirk beaches. Here we see the soldiers queuing, mainly patiently, on the mole: and on the beaches and in the shallow waters. The German attack the perimeters and strafe and bomb the soldiers on the beach. Foreman’s and Holden’s boats, Vanity and Heron, collect soldiers and ferry them to a waiting destroyer. Then they rescue survivors from a sunken ship. Finally the Vanity is hit but Foreman survives. Meanwhile the Heron has seized up. Finally it is repaired but meanwhile Foreman has been killed on the beach whilst watching a Sunday morning service. Holman, Frankie, the remaining squad members and some other soldiers leave the beach and manage to board a destroyer. We see them arrive back in Britain. Frankie is elated when he and Holden are addressed as ‘soldiers’.

The film closes with shots of deserted Dunkirk beaches and cheering crowds greeting the returning soldiers. A voice over intones:

“Dunkirk was a great defeat and a great miracle. It proved, if it proved anything, that we were alone, but undivided. No longer were there fighting men and civilians. There were only people. A nation had been made whole”:

The words are by the final writer on the film, David Divine, who had written his own book on the events which ends with these words.

There is a final brief scene of Privates Binns and Russell on a parade ground being marched around by a Regimental Sergeant Major. This scene was likely unscripted and one of a few added scenes by director Leslie Norman and a little subversive of the War office recommended representations.

The main actors are John Mills, Richard Attenborough and Bernard lee. All are convincing in their characters. Attenborough and Mills had made frequent appearances together on film; Attleborough was often from the lower ranks and Mills more commonly an officer; here that is reversed. Attenborough’s Holden is a reluctant participant; returning to some of the chcractersirt89cs of earlier roles. A crucial scene is when Foreman volunteers to sail his boat to Dunkirk. Leaving, then hesitating, then finally, [almost shamefaced], Holden volunteers. Earlier, he was abused in a pub by a merchant seasman (Victor Maddern) who saw him as a civilian not taking the war seriously. The supporting cast and large numbers of extras are fine. The film is conventional and make extensive use of found footage, including during the sequences on Dunkirk beach. The production team did a fine job in assembling the varied film footage and sound recordings. Not that well known they included art design by Jim Morahan: cinematography by Paul Beeson: editing by Gordon Stone: and the music by the stalwart composer of the period Malcom Arnold.

Reviews were uneven; some positive, some rather critical. The movie does combine almost documentary style recreation, many on location, with more theatrical studio based scenes, whilst many scenes have a non-dramatic feel. Music is often scarce though we get full-blown orchestral moments for certain scenes, as when the small boats sail down the Medway and joint the mass of ships in the harbour. The film seems to have intended a mater-of-fact tone which match the perceived British character of the events. But at the same time, with a running length of over two hours, it does seem to aim at epic proportions.

Black and White, 1.66:1, 135 minutes