''Ships with Wings'' is a 1941 British

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by Sergei Nolbandov and starring John Clements,

Leslie Banks Leslie James Banks Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (9 June 1890 – 21 April 1952) was an English stage and screen actor, director and producer, now best remembered for playing gruff, menacing characters in black-and-white fi ...

and

Jane Baxter Jane Baxter (9 September 1909 – 13 September 1996) was a British actress. Her stage career spanned half a century, and she appeared in a number of films and in television. Early life Baxter was born as Feodora Kathleen Alice Forde in Bremen, ...

. The film is set during the

Battle of Greece The German invasion of Greece or Operation Marita (), were the attacks on Greece by Italy and Germany during World War II. The Italian invasion in October 1940, which is usually known as the Greco-Italian War, was followed by the German invasi ...

(1940-1941). It depicts

military aviation Military aviation is the design, development and use of military aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling aerial warfare, including national airlift (air cargo) capacity to provide military logistics, logist ...

Plot

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, pilot Lieutenant Dick Stacey is expelled from the British

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, RN fighting arms. it is a primarily helicopter force, though also operating the Lockhee ...

for imprudence, but later has the opportunity to redeem himself when he takes part in the fight against the Germans in Greece.

Cast

* John Clements - Lieutenant Dick Stacey *

- Vice Admiral David Wetherby *

- Celia Wetherby *

Ann Todd Dorothy Ann Todd (24 January 1907 – 6 May 1993) was an English film, television and stage actress who achieved international fame when she starred in '' The Seventh Veil'' (1945). From 1949 to 1957 she was married to David Lean who directed ...

- Kay Gordon *

Basil Sydney Basil Sydney (23 April 1894 – 10 January 1968) was an English stage and screen actor. Career Sydney made his name in 1915 in the London stage hit ''Romance (Sheldon play), Romance'' by Edward Sheldon, with Broadway star Doris Keane, and he c ...

- Captain Bill Fairfax * Edward Chapman - 'Papa' Papadopoulos *

Hugh Williams Hugh Anthony Glanmor Williams (6 March 1904 – 7 December 1969) was a British actor and dramatist of Welsh descent. Early life and career Hugh Anthony Glanmor Williams (nicknamed "Tam") was born at Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex to Hugh Dafydd Antho ...

- Wagner *

Frank Pettingell Frank Edmund George Pettingell (1 January 1891 – 17 February 1966) was an English actor. Pettingell was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, and educated at Manchester University. During the First World War he served with the King's Liverpool R ...

- Fields *

Michael Wilding Michael Charles Gauntlet Wilding (23 July 1912 – 8 July 1979) was an English stage, television, and film actor. He is best known for a series of films he made with Anna Neagle; he also made two films with Alfred Hitchcock, '' Under Capric ...

- Lieutenant David Grant *

Michael Rennie Michael Rennie (born Eric Alexander Rennie; 25 August 1909 – 10 June 1971) was a British film, television and stage actor, who had leading roles in a number of Hollywood films, including his portrayal of the space visitor Klaatu in the ...

- Lt Maxwell *

Cecil Parker Cecil Parker (born Cecil Schwabe; 3 September 1897 – 20 April 1971) was an English actor with a distinctively husky voice, who usually played supporting roles, often characters with a supercilious demeanour, in his 91 films made between 1 ...

- German Air Marshal * John Stuart - Commander Hood *

Morland Graham Morland Graham (8 August 1891 – 8 April 1949) was a British film actor. Graham had a career on the stage spanning over 35 years. He was known as a character actor, but also wrote a one act comedy, ''C'est la Guerre'', which was first perf ...

- CPO Marsden *

Charles Victor Charles Victor (10 February 1896 – 23 December 1965) was a British actor who appeared in many film and television roles between 1931 and 1965. He was born Charles Victor Harvey. Born in Southport, Lancashire, England, Victor was a fourth- ...

- MacDermott *

Hugh Burden Hugh Archibald Nairn Burden''The Daily Telegraph'', 25 July 1962 (3 April 1913 – 16 May 1985) was a British actor and playwright. Early life Hugh Archibald Nairn Burden was born as the eldest son of Harry Archibald Burden, a colonial officia ...

- Sub Lieutenant Mickey Wetherby * Frank Cellier - General Baradino Scarappa *

Betty Marsden Betty Marsden (24 February 1919 – 18 July 1998) was an English comedy actress. She is particularly remembered as a cast member of the radio series '' Beyond Our Ken'' and ''Round the Horne''. Marsden appeared in two Carry On films, ''Carry On ...

- Jean *

John Laurie John Paton Laurie (25 March 1897 – 23 June 1980) was a Scottish stage, film, and television actor. He appeared in scores of feature films with directors including Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, Michael Powell and Laurence Olivier, generally p ...

- Lieutenant-Commander Reid * George Merritt - Surgeon Commander * Charles Stuart - Von Rittau *

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his ...

as Colonel

Production

The film was made by

Ealing Studios Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in west London, England. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on th ...

, but filmed at

Fountain Studios Fountain Studios was an independently owned television studio in Wembley Park, north-west London, England. The company was last part of the Avesco Group plc. Several companies owned the site before it was bought by Fountain in 1993. Originall ...

Wembley Park Wembley Park is a district of the London Borough of Brent, England. It is roughly centred on Bridge Road, a mile northeast of Wembley town centre and northwest from Charing Cross. The name Wembley Park refers to the area that, at its broad ...

, north-west London.

Release

The film premiered in November 1941 and went on general release in January 1942. It was a commercial success and was the second most popular film in British cinemas that month behind ''

It Started with Eve ''It Started with Eve'' is a 1941 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Henry Koster and starring Deanna Durbin, Robert Cummings, and Charles Laughton. The film received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Music Score ( Charle ...

''. The sinking of the , on which a number of scenes were set and shot, in November 1941 added a sense of topicality to the film. ''Ark Royal'' portrays the fictional HMS ''Invincible'' - a name not used for a Royal Navy aircraft carrier until the 1970s. The most recent ship named HMS Invincible until then was a battlecruiser sunk at the Battle of Jutland in 1916.

Critical reception

The film received an overwhelmingly positive reception from the popular press on its release. However, it came under attack from a number of intellectuals for what they considered its lack of realism while the Prime Minister

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

objected because of the large number of British casualties shown in the film which he considered bad for morale. The producer

Michael Balcon Sir Michael Elias Balcon (19 May 1896 – 17 October 1977) was an English film producer known for his leadership of Ealing Studios in west London from 1938 to 1956. Under his direction, the studio became one of the most important British film ...

was disturbed by these criticisms and commenced a shift in Ealing's production away from such films towards what were considered more realistic portrayals in an attempt to counter this perceived lack of authenticity. However, except for ''

Dead of Night ''Dead of Night'' is a 1945 British supernatural horror anthology film directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, and Robert Hamer. It stars Mervyn Johns, Googie Withers, Sally Ann Howes, and Michael Redgrave. Produ ...

'', Ealing's films for the remainder of the war failed to enjoy the same commercial success as the earlier "unrealistic" war films and were eclipsed at the box office by the Gainsborough melodramas.Aldgate & Richards p.327

References

Bibliography

* Aldgate, Anthony & Richards, Jeffrey. ''Britain Can Take It: British Cinema in the Second World War''. I.B. Tauris, 2007.

External links

* * - Discussion of the special effects techniques used in the film. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ships with Wings 1941 films 1941 war films British aviation films British war films 1940s English-language films World War II aviation films World War II films made in wartime Ealing Studios films Films directed by Sergei Nolbandov Films produced by Michael Balcon British black-and-white films Films with screenplays by Patrick Kirwan Films set in Greece Battle of Greece Films shot in London 1940s British films English-language war films