My French teacher, a Lancaster Pilot,used to say there were two films which recreated WWII for him with almost uncanny realism. "Appointment in London" was one of them but this was certainly the other. It's release on DVD is long, long overdue.
Unlike many of the films about the air war, this one never leaves the ground. It opens with a magnificent tracking shot, almost as long as Altman's opening shot in The Player, as a casual voice-over takes the viewer into the airbase and homes in on the wall next to the phone in the barracks, which has a series of marks and pictures on it, apparently insignificant but all turn out to have highly emotive connections to pivotal events in the plot.
It catches the sustained mood of hope and fear, punctuated by moments of terror, hilarity, panic and relief. But these are moments. The unique thing in The Way to the Stars is the sense that everyday life had to be preserved by continuing to live it.
The Rattigan script is wonderful, as is the direction. The long pause before John Mills has to tell hotel manager Toddy that her husband has been killed, with no background music or noise to break the almost unbearable tension, is one of the most painful in all cinema. 20 minutes later we're dealt another shocking, but equally understated emotional blow. The wisecracking, cynical New York bomb-aimer fills in the entertainment at a children's party, replacing his captain, killed that morning, having sacrificed himself to avoid injuring the local civilians.
The soldierly respect and comradeship which rapidly replaces grating competitiveness as the Americans arrive on the base is also realistic (and refreshing given Hollywood's recent tendency to write the British out of WWII as in U571 or Saving Private Ryan, or worse, portray them dazed and confused. as in Band of Brothers.)
Elegaic, heroic, understated, brilliantly filmed, acted and directed, without actually showing any real combat, The Way to the Stars manages to be one of the greatest war films ever made.
Unlike many of the films about the air war, this one never leaves the ground. It opens with a magnificent tracking shot, almost as long as Altman's opening shot in The Player, as a casual voice-over takes the viewer into the airbase and homes in on the wall next to the phone in the barracks, which has a series of marks and pictures on it, apparently insignificant but all turn out to have highly emotive connections to pivotal events in the plot.
It catches the sustained mood of hope and fear, punctuated by moments of terror, hilarity, panic and relief. But these are moments. The unique thing in The Way to the Stars is the sense that everyday life had to be preserved by continuing to live it.
The Rattigan script is wonderful, as is the direction. The long pause before John Mills has to tell hotel manager Toddy that her husband has been killed, with no background music or noise to break the almost unbearable tension, is one of the most painful in all cinema. 20 minutes later we're dealt another shocking, but equally understated emotional blow. The wisecracking, cynical New York bomb-aimer fills in the entertainment at a children's party, replacing his captain, killed that morning, having sacrificed himself to avoid injuring the local civilians.
The soldierly respect and comradeship which rapidly replaces grating competitiveness as the Americans arrive on the base is also realistic (and refreshing given Hollywood's recent tendency to write the British out of WWII as in U571 or Saving Private Ryan, or worse, portray them dazed and confused. as in Band of Brothers.)
Elegaic, heroic, understated, brilliantly filmed, acted and directed, without actually showing any real combat, The Way to the Stars manages to be one of the greatest war films ever made.