Secret Flight

source: Secret Flight

Moviecut—Secret Flight

The war had only just ended but as early as 1946 the British film industry swung into action to relive the actions victories battles and inventions of the British war effort. British movie goers in an era before television flocked to such stories for more than a decade the war was to remain big box office at British cinemas. This lesser know boffin movie was quickly produced soon after the end of hostilities and it proves accomplished entertainment with a very strong cast of famous names and faces with the highlight on British scientific achievement from somewhat eccentric but brilliant minds.

Don't watch this film if you are looking for technical details on radar development, as one 'boffin' reviewer has done. This was written and acted as entertainment, not an educational film, and as such it succeeds. Never seen it before this afternoon, but thoroughly enjoyed watching some of our finest actors from that period, with witty banter that was typical of that era. Recommended as a reminder that we still had a sense of humour, despite the recent end to WWII.

Frankly this film had totally passed me by until they wheeled it out on Talking Pictures tonight. I'm always going to watch anything with Ralph Richardson - more than I can say for Olivier - and as always he did not disappoint. He was supported by an odd cast to say the least, John Laurie, Raymond Huntley, Dickie Attenborough, Marjorie Rhodes, all striving to give the impression they were in the same film. Peter Ustinove was making his debut behind the camera and he can't blame the writer for his laxness because he wrote it as well. On the other hand I was glad to stumble across it and wallow in its Old English Lavender vibes.

Not exactly a true reflection of the boffins and their work. But as a piece of history it is spot on - unlike the bombing which never was. It shows the accents, how people lived (my god, the wall paper) and what was important to them. Of course this was a film meant to buck everyone up, to believe they were making a difference and all was well. The acting is very British of that time, I grew up post war when people still talked like that.

SCHOOL FOR SECRETS is a character drama exploring the loves and lives of a group of British boffins who were responsible for developing cutting edge radar technology to turn the tide against German bombers in WW2. It's not a particularly exciting movie, although there are a few scenes of aerial combat and training dotted throughout that I suppose would have been the equivalent of similar moments in TOP GUN back in the day. The film is genuinely worth a watch if you don't expect much, and the presence of numerous cast members like Richard Attenborough, Ralph Richardson, David Tomlinson, and Raymond Huntley (in his swimming trunks, no less!) eases the slight air of tedium that hangs over the proceedings.

This film, about how "boffins" contributed to the English war effort (by inventing airborne radar and other technological miracles), was made to help everyone cheer up and keep that upper lip stiff during the hard post-war recovery years. The real delight in watching it from 50 years distance is in the acting, writing and direction. We have grown used to seeing the likes of Richardson, Huntley, Hordern, Attenborough, Laurie et al in "feature" roles (nay, on display as museum exhibits). Most of them are now gone, but when this film was made--at the hand of the incomparable Peter Ustinov--they were in their prime and they were playing main characters. It is a little like the days "when gods walked the earth". The delight in this film is not in the plot (although it is a sobering reminder of just how much technology has moved this century) but in the language of the Ustinov script and in the effortless way that the principals go about their craft. I doubt that any of the four knighthoods given to director and cast were for this film, but one can see in it film why they achieved this recognition in the end. "School for Secrets" remains, as I am sure it was always intended to be, a "jolly fine" cheer-up story.

I was a Junior Scientific Officer at TRE Malvern and lent my Wellington aircraft to the film makers to show 'window' deployment. I recall seeing a clip of this activity in 1946, whether in a cinema or at TRE theatre I cannot recall. The DVD does not show it. The DVD is factually incorrect,the acting dreadful and the plot frequently chronologically incorrect. Life at TRE was nothing like that portrayed and the love story sloppy in the extreme The operator in the Bruneval Raid was Flight Sergeant Cox, the only person dressed in RAF uniform. Probably as some colonel in a plush office whose nearest to the war was the golf course or polo ground saying that'We can't have an RAF chap in army uniform eh what' It was this raid which caused the overnight exodus from Worth to Malvern College for fear of reprisals. R.B-K

A film of its time with classic stereotypes as characters. Nice shot of Chalfont St Peter village centre still largely recognisable today for those who know it.