Reach for the Sky (1956)

Very disappointing...

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

The story of the British air ace Douglas Bader,an inspiring film after all these years.Douglas Bader was an extremely fit sporting young man,who at the peak of his physical prowess lost his legs in a plane crash.The first part of the film establishes his determination not to be beaten by his handicap.Golf proves away to challenge himself,he also finds a wife.Bored with his life in an office,the out break of WW2 gives him the chance to fly again.Determined to get in the RAF he has medicals and gets back in.Bader is given a squadron of disillusioned flyer's,initially they oppose him, but having seen him fly they are won round.A difficult man Bader takes short cuts to get the equipment he needs for his squadron upsetting some of his superiors.However his tactics are brilliant and before long he is in charge of five squadrons inflicting heavy losses on the German air force during the battle of Britain.On one flight his plane is shot down,Bader escapes by leaving one of his false legs behind.The RAF drops of a spare,in spite of all his difficulties he manages to escape three times .Bader never let a chance go to bait the German guards even inspecting them before heading to Colditz castle.The performance from Kenneth More in the title roll is excellent,given good support from Muriel Pavlov and Nigel Green.I would like a remake,as after all these yeatrs it could be more honest,brutal and would make a big star of the leading actor.

A cynic would argue that the producers made it difficult to say anything negative about a film that recounts a seventeen year period in the life of a man lauded as a hero and who was still very much alive when it was made. Although he'd been a jobbing actor for several years Kenneth More finally achieved stardom in the theatre in the role of Freddy Page, an ex-Battle of Britain pilot who finds it hard to adjust to civilian life. The play, which opened in 1952, was Terence Rattigan's The Deep Blue Sea and More went on to recreate his role in the film version albeit opposite Vivien Leigh rather than Peggy Ashcroft. It was, then, something of type-casting to give him the role of Douglas Bader, a pilot who lost both legs in 1931 yet went on to lead five squadrons in The Battle Of Britain. It is, inevitably, a feelgood movie and Lewis Gilbert surrounds More with a cast of rock-solid dependables of the British film industry and on the whole turns out a decent enough film.

You could run out of clichés and superlatives to describe a man like Douglas Bader. Indomitable, a hero, an example to us all. Where to stop? This movie chronicles the wartime life of Bader the disabled pilot. Unlike most, he fought several wars. One was for his life after his legs were destroyed in a crash, another was to walk again without any visible support. A third was against the bureaucrats who insisted he would never fly again. And after all that, he took on the Luftwaffe. Whatever criticisms may be levied against his personal character, this man was such a tower of strength that those who seek to denigrate him stand like resentful pygmies in his shadow. I, for one, cannot begin to imagine the hardships he experienced from the loss of his athletic prowess to the agony of his time in hospital. Compared to them, shooting at German planes must have seemed like child's play. Though that experience alone was enough to break the spirit of many a whole-bodied man. There really was only one actor to play his part in a movie and Kenneth More was he. You might say he was born to it. I don't know how close he came to the real character of Bader, but neither he nor the movie seems to shy away either from his reckless courage or his self-centredness. We see  glimpses of the latter on the golf course when he won't give up, and has his wife - played by the excellent Muriel Pavlow - running and fetching the ball like a dog. At other times, he is tearing around in a Bentley with almost no regard for his passengers or the public alike. Even after he has been liberated from Germany, he can't give up the fight, and thoughtlessly pursues his dreams of combat east. Never once do we see him consult his wife's interests. Bader was a driven man. If not he would never have survived the crash, never have walked again without a stick, never have got into the air again. Single-minded? you bet. And you take it or leave it. This movie was made in 1956. As it's a post-war production there's no propaganda drum to beat. It can and does stick pretty-well to the story, and captures all of the social and cultural attitudes of the time like a miniature documentary. The combat scenes are also very well done.There was a time in this country when men like Bader set a standard to which most people at least aspired. It was the sort of foolhardy courage and selfless determination for which the Victoria Cross was struck.But not any more. Today's Britain really is 'Little Britain', and in more ways than one. It's people have slipped into a cynical, self-indulgent pathos. It has become fashionable to denigrate our true heroes for the simple reason that nowadays few could even begin to measure up to the standards of personal pride, civil responsibility, and social obligation that were once benchmarks of national behaviour. Today a hero is someone who can withstand abuse on reality TV shows. They can sing a 2-minute song more tunefully than their competitors. Or they can score goals in a football team. For all of these things they are applauded, honoured, and paid millions. If you're a foul-mouthed cook you can poison the nation's ears if not its bellies, if you're a one-legged, gold-digging woman you are entitled to millions of pounds towards which you have made not a penny's contribution. Today, a crippled warrior can expect less sympathy or compensation than an insulted criminal.There's no room for the right stuff in this country any more. Today we don't reach for the sky; we stoop to mediocrity. The money's better, it's a lot safer, and we don't make others feel inadequate.

'The channels are blocked? Then we'll ruddy well UNblock 'em!' This is the point in the film where I feel like cheering, as it perfectly sums up Bader's 'can do, will do' approach. It's the true story of Douglas Bader, a young flying enthusiast who went on to be a fearless WW2 Spitfire pilot, losing both legs in the process. His struggle to walk again, his courting of a pretty girl and his later formation of 'the big wing' in the fight against the Nazi invasion are laid out here with gusto, verve and a little humour. Kenneth More is excellent as Bader, using his natural, relaxed acting technique to give the part a free-wheeling energy. The very pretty Muriel Pavlow plays his wife who grows increasingly concerned at his derring-do, and there is a solid cast of British regulars of the time. The music is stirring, the direction brisk and the story itself is straight out of a Boys' Own comic. What more could you ask for? A perfect Sunday afternoon film.