THE WAY TO THE STARS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 364, 14 June 1946, Page 30

THE WAY TO THE STARS

(Two Cities)

a Steg been brought fairly close to the earth by a bou. of "flu, I was unable to make The Way to the Stars when it was previewed recently. But I am able to pass. on the report of a colleague who saw it in my place and whose judgment I respect. Though I cannot guarantee this, it seems likely that if the Little Man had been present he would have stood up to applaud: HEN the readers of the London Daily Mail recently chose this as the best British film produced during the war, they showed surprisingly good taste. It is, in fact, an outstanding film. Though it deals with the Air Force, The Way to the Stars is not in the usual sense a "war" film. Its problems are the human ones that arise from war, and ~ the director (Anthony Asquith) treats them with an understanding and intelligence which we seldom get from Hollywood. In some impressive opening shots, the camera takes us through the gates of an airfield in Britain. It is now deserted, but what is left-the pin-up girls, a cigarette lighter, a signature scribbled in chalk on the wall, a small notice in German-all these things had meaning for the men who flew the Blenheims and Flying Fortresses. As we go back to the early days of the "Blitz," and over the comparatively short history of Halfpenny Airfield, these things have meaning for us, too. We see the everyday life of the airmen, their comradeship together, and their relationship with the civilians in the neighbouring village where their offduty haunt is the local pub. Then the Americans arrive, "chewing the cud, shooting the bull, and calling each other ‘Buddy’,’ as one British airman puts it. There is no attempt to gloss over the difficulties of AngloAmerican relations. Differences of temperament and customs are frankly admitted and brought into the open. In this way a better understanding of each other’s problems is made possible. Although there are some well-known people in the cast (Michael Redgrave, Rosamund Johns, and John Mills) they are not played up merely for the sake of the box-office. The influence of the documentary can, in fact, be seen throughout the film. You feel that here are real people, real situations-certainly a rare experience in the cinema.