ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – THE DAWN PATROL (1938)

 

“Dawn Patrol” is a war drama based on the story by John Monk Saunders and Directed by Edmund Goulding.

In 1915 in France, Major Brand (Basil Rathbone) has the burden of command of the 39th Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps sending pilots to almost certain death every day.

The young airmen go up daily in bullet-riddled “crates” and the casualty rate is appalling, but Brand can't make the high command at headquarters see reason, and if that was not enough insubordinate air ace Captain Courtney (Errol Flynn) and his sidekick Scott (David Niven) are constant thorns in Brand's side.

The film is a very gritty and accurate look at life, and death, in a Royal Flying Corps fighter squadron and has a strong supporting cast including, Donald Crisp, Melville Cooper, Barry Fitzgerald, Carl Esmond, Peter Willes and Morton Lowry.

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – IN WHICH WE SERVE (1942)

 

“In Which We Serve” is a World War II drama, written by Noël Coward   and Directed by Noël Coward and David Lean.

It tells the story of a British Naval Destroyer, H.M.S. Torrin, from its construction on the Clyde to its sinking during action in the Mediterranean Sea in World War II, and is told in flashbacks by the survivors as they cling to a life raft.

Among them are the ship's commanding officer Captain E.V. Kinross (Noël Coward), Ordinary Seaman Shorty Blake (John Mills), Chief Petty Officer Walter Hardy (Bernard Miles), Stoker (Richard Attenborough) and Flags (Michael Wilding).

But although the men have served valiantly and heroically in their time aboard the Torrin we also get to see the stoic and determined women behind them, Alix Kinross (Celia Johnson), Freda Lewis (Kay Walsh), Kath Hardy (Joyce Carey) and Maureen (Penelope Dudley Ward).

 

“In Which We Serve” is a shameless story about naval heroism and was based on Lord Mountbatten's wartime experiences and is a compelling and highly rated piece of British cinema history.

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – RANDOM HARVEST (1942)

“Random Harvest” is a romantic drama, based on James Hilton’s book of the same name and directed by Mervyn LeRoy.

Charles Rainier (Ronald Colman) a shell-shocked veteran of World War I wanders out of the sanatorium and meets music hall star Paula Greer Garson who nurses him back to health and marry and settle happily into a quiet humble life, until he is involved in an accident which restores his original memories of a former life of wealth and privilege while erases all recollection of his post-war life.

So, a quiet and humble man disappears, and another man long missing as a casualty of war, turns up and claims his vast inheritance.

So, what of his devoted wife Paula, whom he no longer recognizes, what is she to do to reclaim her love? And will love conquers all in the end?

The film remains true to the Hilton novel and is one of the most beautiful and tender movies I have ever seen.

The acting is flawless, the cinematography memorable, the characterizations multi-dimensional, the scenery gorgeous and the peerless direction adds to the pleasure.

A strong supporting cast aids the story telling

Susan Peters as Kitty, Henry Travers as Dr Sims, Reginald Owen as Biffer, Bramwell Fletcher as Harrison and Philip Dorn as Dr Benet.

A film not to be missed.

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – MRS. MINIVER (1942)

 

“Mrs. Miniver” is a romantic war drama based on the story by Jan Struther and directed by William Wyler.

It tells the story of the Miniver’s, an English middle-class family, as they experience life in the first months of World War II.

The film opens with Mrs Miniver (Greer Garson) returning on the train to the idyllic village where she lives after a shopping trip to London and is desperately trying to figure out how to tell her husband Clem (Walter Pidgeon) she has squandered far too much on a frivolous new hat, although she needn’t have worried because Clem was in a similar position as he’d bought himself a new car.

When she disembarks from the train, the stationmaster, Mr. Ballard (Henry Travers), asks Mrs Miniver’s permission to name a rose he's cultivated after her for the flower show, and her gracelful acceptance brings about her first encounter with Lady Beldon (Dame May Whitty) the formidable Lady of the Manor.

However it was not to be the last, because their oldest son, Vin (Richard Ney), having left Oxford for the RAF, courts and marries Lady Beldon's granddaughter Carol (Teresa Wright).

But war touched the people of the village, Clem took his small boat to Dunkirk and his wife captured a downed German Pilot and again more tragically when a bad raid took the lives of several villagers on the day of the flower show, including newlywed Carol.

The film won a host of Oscars including Best Picture, Best Actress for Greer Garson, Best Supporting Actress for Teresa Wright, Best Director for William Wyler, and all well deserved.
While there were also other nominations, Walter Pidgeon for Best Actor, Henry Travers for Best Supporting Actor and Dame May Witty for Best Supporting Actress, but lost to her fellow cast member Teresa Wright.
I think it was the penultimate scene between Greer Garson and Teresa Wright that won them both Oscars.

But judge for yourselves, I would suggest that you have to see it, I can't say more than that; the hardest of hearts will be moved.