OPERA HOUSE

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 19, 17 October 1942, Page 10

OPERA HOUSE

“B. for Bertie,” this time the crew of a Wellington bomber, takes off in the ll ' n| 7pF' cning shadows for a raid on Stu'tKart. Iht bombs are dropped—plomp. plomp. plom-p!—with heartening precisuu, but the crew has to bale out over Hofland on th bne a 'of our'aircraft is missing! What ha jnebael Powell, who, gave the y'JFFLS 1 !'? amazingly successful “40th Parallel, tells Um talf in a high-tension film of superb Quality in which the theme of escape is welded to the heroism and kindliness of the Dutch people. Oddly enough, the title of the film, “One of Our Aircraft i. tonic.” appears on the screen five minutes after the show has begun, and the illogical as this may sound, takes place five minutes before the P lct ® re H fi ,P lsl |® b ' The crew of “B. tor Bertie >s a strangely-assorted one, gathered together, we discover, to show audiences how well all types of Englishmen behave under stress Coming to earth in the early morning peace of the Dutch eountrymde-a clewe? contrast after the gaining bombs the glare and the mad searching lights or the Stuttgart show—the men look round for friends. The Dutch, atter the most careful cross-examination, decide to help them, and the real body of the film is contained in their journey to the coast, when* they escape to England. Goodie Withers, whose real acting ability hue too ’one been denied by producers who confined her to flimsy, foolish comedy, a, the star of the piece. She is a Dutchwoman whose home in the seaport town Is a haven for many English servicemen. Godfrey Tarie —what a polished actor he is '—is 'a member of the crew, and so are Eric Portman, in a very different role to the one he played in “49th Parallel. Hu=h Williams, who is the husband ot Sydney s Margaret Vyner, and Pamela Brown, splendidly cast as an uncompromising Dutch school inarm.