''Reach for Glory'' is a 1962 British film directed by Philip Leacock and starring

Harry Andrews Henry Stewart Fleetwood Andrews, CBE (10 November 1911 – 6 March 1989) was a British actor often known for his film portrayals of tough military officers. His performance as Regimental Sergeant Major Wilson in '' The Hill'' (1965) earned And ...

, Kay Walsh and

Michael Anderson Jr Michael Joseph Anderson Jr. (born 6 August 1943) is a British and American retired actor whose 40-year career includes roles in ''The Sundowners (1960 film), The Sundowners'', ''In Search of the Castaways (film), In Search of the Castaways'', '' ...

. It was adapted by John Rae from his 1961 novel '' The Custard Boys''.

Plot

A group of boys, evacuated during World War II from London to a coastal town, form a gang and play war games. Too young to fight in the war and afraid it will be over by the time they come of age, the group members, who are also in the school's

Army Cadet Force The Army Cadet Force (ACF), generally shortened to Army Cadets, is a national Youth organisations in the United Kingdom, youth organisation sponsored by the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence and the Bri ...

, initiate a battle with the local teenagers. Curlew, a local youth, invites an Austrian Jewish refugee with whom he has formed a close relationship to take part in the shenanigans. At first the Jewish boy, Stein, is scorned because of his "Germanic" heritage but is later allowed to join. When Stein runs off during a fight, the youths decide to give him a fake court-martial and execution, but real bullets are used by a freak mistake and Stein is killed.

Cast

as Capt. Curlew * Kay Walsh as Mrs. Curlew *

as Lewis Craig * Oliver Grimm as Mark Stein * Martin Tomlinson as John Curlew * Freddie Eldrett as Willy Aldrich * James Luck as Michael Freen * John Coker as Peter Joy *

Michael Trubshawe Michael Trubshawe (7 December 1905 – 21 March 1985) was a British actor and former officer in the Highland Light Infantry Regiment of the British Army. Trubshawe was very close friends with fellow British actor David Niven, serving with h ...

as Maj. Burton * Arthur Hewlett as Vicar * Cameron Hall as Headmaster * Allan Jeayes as Crabtree *

Richard Vernon Richard Evelyn Vernon (7 March 1925 – 4 December 1997) was a British actor. He appeared in many feature films and television programmes, often in aristocratic or supercilious roles. Prematurely balding and greying, Vernon settled into playi ...

as Dr. Aldrich *

Russell Waters Russell Waters (10 June 1908 – 19 August 1982) was a British film actor. Waters was educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School, Glasgow and the University of Glasgow. He began acting with the Old English Comedy and Shakespeare Company then app ...

as Mr. Freeman * Patricia Hayes as Mrs. Freeman * George Pravda as Mr. Stein * John Rae as Lance Freeman * Alexis Kanner as Steven * Peter Furnell as Arthur Chettle * John Pike as Felix *

Melvin Baker Melvin Clyde Baker (born August 12, 1950) is an American former professional American football, football wide receiver who played three seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints, New England Patri ...

as Chettle's Lieutenant

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' wrote: "The harm which the chauvinistic military propaganda necessary to sustain even the most righteous cause can have on unsophisticated minds is demonstrated with dramatic economy in this adaptation from John Rae's much-praised novel. By deleting most of the author's side remarks on religion and patriotism and his social comment, including a superfluous ironic epilogue, it concentrates the better on this single theme from which so many more criticisms of the death-or-glory ethos follow. Yet even after some inevitable bowdlerisation, the film's producers had difficulty in finding a British distributor for a work where there is nothing coy or quaint about the children or their war games, little humour and that often coarse or bitter, and no conventional sex, only devotion to one apparently still disturbing message. The naturalness of the boys' playing is a further tribute to the patience and sensitivity of Philip Leacock when handling young actors. Unfortunately the two main adult characters, the Curlew parents, become pasteboard types when taken from page to screen, and the presence of a conscientious objector son seems just too pat a device. The narrative also skips over several significant topics, such as the upsetting effect of parental rows on the younger son, the attitude of the pupils to Mark's teacher father, and the ease with which Craig's gang accept Mark, whom they have at first ferociously snubbed. Better shaping of the script might have made the film even more compact and incisive than it already is."

Accolades

The film received a United Nations Award.

References

External links

* 1962 films Films based on British novels British black-and-white films Films directed by Philip Leacock Columbia Pictures films British war drama films Films set on the United Kingdom home front during World War II 1960s English-language films 1960s British films {{1960s-UK-film-stub