The Way to the Stars

The Way to the Stars

British DVD cover
Directed by Anthony Asquith
Produced by Anatole de Grunwald
Written by Terence Rattigan
Anatole de Grunwald
Richard Sherman
John Pudney (poems)
Starring Michael Redgrave
John Mills
Rosamund John
Stanley Holloway
Music by Nicholas Brodszky
Charles Williams
Cinematography Derrick Williams
Edited by Fergus McDonell
Production
company
Distributed by Rank Organisation (UK)
United Artists (U.S.)
Release dates
 16 June 1945 (UK)
15 November 1945(U.S.)
Running time
 109 minutes (UK)
87 minutes (U.S.)
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Box office $63,434 (U.S. rentals)[1]

The Way to the Stars is a 1945 British war drama film made by Two Cities Films. In the United States it was known as Johnny in the Clouds and distributed by United Artists.[2] It was produced by Anatole de Grunwald and directed by Anthony Asquith. The screenplay was co-written by noted dramatist, Terence Rattigan, as a significant reworking of his 1942 play Flare Path, which incorporated his Royal Air Force (RAF) experiences as a Flight Lieutenant. The film stars Michael Redgrave, John Mills, Rosamund John and Stanley Holloway.

The title, The Way to the Stars, is often assumed to have been taken from the Latin motto of the RAF, Per ardua ad astra. However, the literal translation of the RAF motto is "Through adversity to the stars". The alternative title, Johnny in the Clouds, is derived from the poem recited in the film as tribute to a dead American aviator.

Plot

Pilot Officer Peter Penrose (John Mills) is posted in the summer of 1940 as a pilot to (the fictional) No. 720 Squadron,[N 1] at a new airfield, RAF Station Halfpenny Field, as a very green "15-hour sprog" Bristol Blenheim pilot and is assigned to B Flight, under Flight Lieutenant David Archdale (Michael Redgrave).

When No. 720 Squadron's commanding officer, Squadron Leader Carter (Trevor Howard, in his second but first credited film role), is shot down, Archdale takes over. While Penrose develops into a first-class pilot, he meets Iris Winterton (Renee Asherson), a young woman staying with her domineering aunt at the Golden Lion pub in the nearby village. Archdale marries Miss Todd (Rosamund John), the popular manageress of the hotel, who is known to everyone as Toddy. The Archdales later have a son, Peter.

The action flashes forward to May 1942. The squadron is now flying Douglas Boston bombers. When Penrose shows signs of strain from extensive combat, Archdale has him posted to controller school, but is himself shot down and killed over France on Penrose's last mission. Penrose had been courting Iris, despite her aunt's disapproval, but Archdale's fate weighs heavily on his mind. Not wanting Iris to suffer if the same happened to him, he stops seeing her.

No. 720 Squadron is sent to the Middle East, but Penrose remains behind as a ground controller for a United States Army Air Forces B-17 Flying Fortress bombardment group, which takes over the airfield. He befriends USAAF Captain Johnny Hollis (Douglass Montgomery) and Lieutenant Joe Friselli (Bonar Colleano). On 17 August 1942, the American airmen participate in the first attack by the USAAF on Occupied France, later ruefully acknowledging that they underestimated the difficulties involved. Afterward, Penrose is posted to flying duties with an RAF Avro Lancaster bomber unit.

In 1944, Penrose, now a squadron leader and pathfinder pilot, makes an emergency landing at Halfpenny Field, where he meets Iris again. Iris had decided to leave her aunt for good and join up. Toddy persuades a still-reluctant Penrose to propose to Iris, saying that she did not regret her own marriage in spite of her husband's death. Hollis, who has formed a platonic relationship with Toddy, is killed while crash-landing a damaged returning bomber rather than bail out and risk it crashing in the village.

Cast

Production

The Way to the Stars was one of Terence Rattigan's early works. During the war, Rattigan had served in the Royal Air Force as a tail gunner, and used his wartime experiences to help inspire his earlier stage play, Flare Path. In 1945, he was released from the service to help rewrite it with Anatole De Grunwald as a film screenplay of The Way to the Stars. Although Michael Redgrave and John Mills were the leads, the film offers very early performances from two actors who would themselves become international film stars in later years: Jean Simmons and Trevor Howard.[3]

Poem

The following poetry, supposedly written by Archdale, was penned by John Pudney, as one of two poems written specifically for the film.[4] It is found on a piece of paper and given by Penrose to Toddy after her husband's death. Later, she gives it to Hollis's friend to read after he is killed.

For Johnny

Do not despair ... for Johnny-head-in-air;

He sleeps as sound. ... as Johnny underground.

Fetch out no shroud ... for Johnny-in-the-cloud;

And keep your tears ... for him in after years.

Better by far ... for Johnny-the-bright-star,

To keep your head ... and see his children fed.

Reception

On initial release, the film was popular in Britain, but performed poorly in the U.S. where it was released postwar as Johnny in the Clouds with a prologue added.[1] [5]

Later reviews considered the film "... one of the more thoughtful of British war movies ..."[6] and an "excellent drama about a British airfield and the men stationed there, focusing mainly on personal relationships in wartime."[7]

References

Notes

  1. ↑ There were two units by that name during the Second World War: No. 720 Squadron RAF was a non-flying, airfield defence unit of the RAF Regiment. The only British flying unit known as 720 Squadron was a Fleet Air Arm squadron; during the war it was a flying boat unit attached to the Royal New Zealand Navy.

Citations

  1. 1 2 Macnab 1993, p. 164.
  2. ↑ Variety film review; 20 June 1945, p. 11.
  3. ↑ Shiach 2006, p, 34.
  4. ↑ Shiach 2006, p, 32.
  5. ↑ Harrison's Reports film review; 24 November 1945, p. 186.
  6. ↑ Shiach 2006, p, 31.
  7. ↑ Maltin, Leonard. "Leonard Maltin Movie Review." Turner Classic Movies.

Bibliography

  • Macnab, Geoffrey. J. Arthur Rank and the British Film Industry. London: Routledge, 1994, First edition 1993. ISBN 978-0-41511-711-1.
  • Shiach, Don. Great British Movies. Harpenden, Herts, UK: Pocket Essentials, 2006. ISBN 978-1-904048-59-6.

External links

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