"THE LION HAS WINGS"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 27, 29 December 1939, Page 2

"THE LION HAS WINGS"

Britain's First Real Propaganda Film The Lion Has Wings (United Artists) is the first of Britain’s propaganda pictures, and a moving, exciting film it is, conveying more realistically than any words could do a record of the Royal Air Force in action. Foreigners have been sending us this kind of thing for years and our near-intelligentsia has twittered "Remarkable! Wonderful!" largely because it has been foreign. The Lion Has Wings is emotional, for it is built that way under the expert direction of Alexander Korda who has adopted the British habit of understatement to drive home a point. There is a deft switching of incident throughout the film which delivers its message most effectively by a’ series of comparisons, Behind it all runs the voice of the commentator, broken only to allow the principal players to heighten drama as the war effort sweeps them into its vortex. The picture proves, also, the force of the film as a medium for propaganda when treated by an expert. There is no clumsiness here, From the opening shots of England’s green and enchanting landscape, the films moves to a series of contrasts with Germany, and so we see England at play and building for the future while Germany arms; Hitler's regimented millions in uniform against England’s happy crowds at the seaside or in the country; Hitler barking into the microphone against British "barkers" of ice-cream, racing odds, and sports results; our King and Queen surrounded by boy ‘scouts singing "The Chestnut Tree," contrasted with battalions of Nazis giving the familiar salute and Hitler surrounded by armed guards; Bank holiday crowds dancing " Boomps-a-Daisy" while goosestepping battalions move over the frontiers, Then the Royal Air Force comes into action, the armament factories pour out their deadly product, and the whole of Britain’s preparations for air defence are unfolded in their astonishing efficiency. We see the flight over the North Sea and the first heroes of the raid on the Keil Canal stepping out of their ’planes. E The Lion Has Wings is part history, part emotion, part fiction, mostly fact, woven together so completely that it becomes more moving than mere imagination and more dramatic because it is stamped with the reality of great issues at stake. The British studios should have sent out this message long ago. Ralph Richardson, Merle Oberon, and Flora Robson are only three of an immense cast, most of whom are taken from those most intimately involvedthe British people themselves. —

O.A

G.