One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942)

British Men Sit In Fight Jets While Bickering Back And Forth Battling Nazis

The problem for propaganda films is this: for some people it makes them feel proud and patriotic, and for some other people it just feels awkward. One of Our Aircraft is Missing is not only awkward for the audiences, but it is even more so for the filmmakers. One of Our Aircraft is Missing is so blind to anything but the magnificence of Great Britain's flag. Although I rather like Great Britain and I obviously do not like Nazis, One of Our Aircraft is Missing still managed to come to a giant mess, even though I was naturally routing for who they wanted me to.

One of Our Aircraft is Missing is blind. I think that is the best way of putting it. It is blind to anything that may increase it cinematically. It is playing safe with the ignorance of the audiences of the time and even the ignorances of audiences today. They simply show what people would want to see, no more, no less. For that reason alone, One of Our Aircraft is Missing was a rather large success upon it’s release. I suppose it could be considered a way of escaping from the then current horror of World War II, but does that mean it should still be watched today? Absolutely not.

One of Our Aircraft is Missing was pulled together so fast it is almost incredible. It was also whipped together very cheaply, and trust me, it shows. The film looks as though it was shot on the most inexpensive camera Powell and Pressburger could possibly find. The cuts are rugged and the old 35mm film has been clearly damaged of the course of the last sixty years. For these reason, One of Our Aircraft is Missing is painful to the eyes. In wouldn’t be until 1943 with The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, that the Archers would realize their calling for shooting a fabulously coloured and positioned Technicolor film. So here, in 1942, only one year away from The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp they make a completely stylistically opposite film. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp was lavish and beautiful where as One of Our Aircraft is Missing is rough and hideous.

I have never read the actually screenplay for One of Our Aircraft is Missing, but I have heard it is sloppy and a great deal of the film was improvised on the spot. The story is also jumpy, it feels structureless and sloppy. We go from one event to the other with no smoothness in between. For this reason, One of Our Aircraft is Missing is even more aggravating to watch!

Eric Portman starred in many other films by The Archers, and he has never been worse than he was in this failure of a performance. It seems that he did not care about delivering a realistic performance. What he focused on, was making sure his British accent was cool and made all his lines sound witty. Well, at least he succeeded with that one.

Googie Withers is not half bad as a Dutch agent, despite having a very mediocre accent. Withers is a fairly good actress, and it struck me here that she truly understands how The Archers wanted her character to appear as in the film and Withers understood how to get her character to come in such a way. Her character and Joyce Redman’s character are two strict agents of the Dutch resistance and although they are not  characters that demand profound interpretation and intensive method acting to master, they are certainly interesting characters who are both well played. I’ll take the moment to promote two films I love; if you want to see Googie Withers in three great performances check out Dead of Night, The Lady Vanishes and Night and The City, all of which she is superb in.

One of Our Aircraft is Missing seems to be Powell and Pressburger trying to have a fun time. However, The Archers clearly have a strange definition of entertainment because One of Our Aircraft is Missing is my definition of boring. It is slow-moving and it meanders over that which we could care less about. The less twenty or so minutes of the film are actually fairly well done. Perhaps Powell and Pressburger decided to put all of their effort into the very end of the film, and not the rest of it.

I can tell what The Archers were aiming for (pun intended) with One of Our Aircraft is Missing, but as pretentious as this may make me come across as, I felt the film was more for an audience of less dedicated film watchers. The film is not terrible, but it certainly isn’t good either!

One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing,

1942,

Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressubrger

Starring: Eric Portman, Googie Withers and Joyce Redman

★★½ /★★★★★

Ranked:

1. A Matter of Life and Death

2. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

3. 49th Parallel

4. The Small Back Room

5. The Red Shoes

6. The Tales of Hoffman

7. The Spy in Black

8. A Canterbury Tale

9. The Battle of the River Plate

10. I Know Where I'm Going

11. One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing

49th Parallel (1941)

NOTE TO VIEWERS: Cinema Stripped Down will now only show the sections "The Plot" and "The Film" when the author deems that these sections are relevant enough to be featured. If the film has a boring, or uninteresting history, THE FILM will not be feature.

49th Parallel Or: How Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger Went To Canada and Made One Of the Best Propaganda Films of All Time.

When one thinks of propaganda, we most likely focus on "evil" propaganda, such as Nazi films or Soviet films. Perhaps we even think of more modern, biased "impartial" news broadcasts, or productions. When people think of England's propaganda films of the WWII era, most of them think of them as more of  "movies" than "propaganda". While that may be true, they were made to try and bolster a nation's waning confidence in a losing war. While it is remarkable that many of these films still stand up today, some were made for other purposes. The purpose of 49th Parallel was to get The United States to join in the war.

You see, Britain was fighting a losing battle. The once powerful nation had, in the space of two years, had gone to barely hanging on. They needed help, and what they got from Canada, Australia and the other nations in the British Empire was minimal. But America didn't want to join in with out having to, and in 1940, there was no reason to (Pearl Harbour would occur after this film was released.) This film was Powell trying to show those Americans how nasty those Nazi's were. And it worked, kind of. The film as a big hit, and teh U.S. joined the war effort at the end of the year (probably had less to do with this film, and more with the Japanese attacking Hawaii).

The film is (basically) about a group of Nazi's wandering around Canada and trying to escape, first to overseas, then to the US, where they could be shipped back to Germany. It is also terrifically entertaining. Being from Canada, I have heard from a friend that this film is full to the brim with stereotypes (Eskimos, fur trappers, politeness), but I am sure that at the time that those kinds of people exist. Also, I have heard that there is a scene where a man fights a polar bear...which there isn't.

Anyways, stereotypes aside, this is a great film. For starters, the acting is great. I mean, look at that cast! Anton Walbrook, Laurence Olivier, Leslie Howard, Raymond Massey and Eric Portman. And they are all great. Portman here is miles away from his sticky role in A Canterbury Tale (Such a sentimental movie!). Here he is slimy, and most definitely evil. He may not be the most accurate Nazi, but he is pretty unappealing. He carries with him a kind of smirk that personifies pure craftiness, and whenever he sports it, I sort of want to punch him in the face.

It helps him that he is surrounded by great actors playing some seriously heroic characters. Olivier's French Canadian is incredibly funny, but in a few short scenes, Olivier manages to capture the viewer and ultimately sadden them. Indeed, he is the best character in the film. Never has such a few scenes produced such an endearing, incredibly human character. What a sadness it is when the film moves on from him (and the imaginary super-Eskimos fighting polar bears).

**MINOR SPOILERS FOLLOW**

But when it does move on, it comes to Anton Walbrook. Walbrook is good, and he has a great speech where he denounces Nazi's. But his few scenes few to captivate the film in such a way as Olivier's. It also doesn't help that his is the weakest section of the film. The Nazi's encounter Hatterites, a religious group who live in a relaxed manner. In this section we also find a "nice" Nazi, and that plot line feels kind of half baked. Portman is quite good here. From this section the film moves to....

The next section focuses on Leslie Howard as a rich, English writer who lives in a teepee and writes about Native tribal studies. He meets them and insults their leader (without knowing they are Nazi's), and then is tied up. Howard is quite good here, and is very relatable in the role. He is very foolish, meaning the walking-towards-a-Nazi-who-has-a-loaded-gun kind of foolishness, but impeccably charming and goodhearted all the same. His incredibly cool actions under fire make everyone wish they could be so cool (well, maybe just me).

The final section showcases Eric Portman going head on with a Canadian GI in a freight train bound for Niagara Falls. The scene features a lot of preachy dialogue (democracy is amazing!), but it provides a fitting conclusion to the story so far. Raymond Massey, who plays the GI, is actually quite interesting. He plays a very boring part in a very interesting way, and I find his face to be fascinating. He manages to make the audience care for him, and gives us one last interesting character.

I hesitate to use the word "epic" when describing a film. For one, it has become increasingly overused in our modern society (Ex. "dude, that was epic") and it is mostly confined to films such a Lawrence of Arabia. However, the scope that this film manages, in such an intimate matter really makes me want to describe it as such. Pressburger's screenplay must have had something to do with this. It presents a story of scenes woven through a thin narrative fabric, but the genius lies in it's deceptively simple nature.

If you were to take one look at 49th Parallel, you could disregard it as wartime fluff. If you were to look at it a second time, perhaps you would think it was an adventure film. For a third glance, you could say it was a character study. A forth will reveal hidden commentary. By the fifth time, you are most likely over analyzing the film. But this kind of provoked thought that lies beneath a layer of entertainment is fascinating, and if one wishes to go fishing, you just need to put the bait in the water and see if the fish bites (I hope that analogy makes sense).

If the screenplay gives the actors good material, than the score gives us rousing wartime strings, and a resounding sense of patriotism. And that's it. Meaning it's a pretty average score, and not really that memorable. The cinematography is very nice and pretty, but doesn't stick out like Black Narcissus or The Small Back Room.

And now to the direction. Michael Powell manages to keep the entertainment at an almost unattainably high level, and he does it while telling the good ol' USA to get off their backs and pitch in with their old friends over at the UK. His technique is such that we rarely feel bored, and he gives us a light airy tone that can easily turn dark when it wants to. Powell's direction is conventional, perhaps, but good in any respect.

The thing that truly separates 49th Parallel from, say, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp is it's enthusiasm. While Blimp is technically better than 49th Parallel, but this film sweeps over you like a bubbling tide, while the other slowly crawls to cover you with tepid seawater. This film has all the scope and entertainment to be a bonafide classic adventure film, with some generally unlikable protagonists. But it is relatively underrated. Perhaps it has dated, perhaps it is one stereotype too much for some people, or perhaps some just don't like it.

I don't quite know. But I do know one thing, this is a great film.

49th Parallel,
1941,
Starring: Eric Portman, Laurence Olivier and Leslie Howard,
Directed by Michael Powell,
8/10 (A-)

Ranked:
1. A Matter of Life and Death
2. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
3. 49th Parallel
4. The Small Back Room
5. The Red Shoes
6. The Tales of Hoffman
7. The Spy in Black
8. A Canterbury Tale
9. The Battle of the River Plate
10. I Know Where I'm Going