andrew muhling If you are looking for a war film where black as black bad guys are dealt violent and bloody justice buy faultless good guys? This is not the film for you. In this film you find ordinary people making there way from one day to the next as best they can.The characters are colourful and varied. Though their emotional travels they develop and share their lessons openly with the viewer. There is no simple lessons or clean cut right or wrong. the characters are heroes not because of their battlefield antics, but by their personal interaction and support for each other.The Way to the Stars is directed at pleasing walk, with some clever camera angles and thoughtful pauses. The battle scenes are all subliminal. So while you do get to see all sorts of planes flying, landing and taking off. There is next to no combat action. This is ok, as the film is really here to explore the affect combat has on the characters, not the actual combat it's self. In this, it's very close to perfect.I'd recommend it to anyone other than a gore hound.

DKosty123 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

richardhwilton The great thing about this war flying film is that there's hardly any flying in it. It's all about the terrible toll war takes on normal people. What makes it so gripping to a modern audience is how the characteristic emotional restraint of people at that time is so faithfully portrayed. That's why it doesn't date. You just know that's how people really were back then.Above all, it's the Rattigan screenplay, with its wonderful trilogical structure that speaks out.If you want to see how people really felt and acted in England in WW2, in a beautiful, tragic film, then you must see it.

roger-simmons1942 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.