Aces High (film)

Aces High is a 1976 war film starring Malcolm McDowell, Peter Firth, Christopher Plummer and Simon Ward. The film, which is an Anglo-French production, is based on the 1928 play Journey's End by R. C. Sherriff with additional material from the memoir Sagittarius Rising by Cecil Lewis. It was directed by Jack Gold. The screenplay was written by Howard Barker.

Aces High
Original British film poster
Directed by	Jack Gold
Produced by	Benjamin Fisz Jacques Roitfeld
Screenplay by	Howard Barker
Based on	Journey's End (play) by R. C. Sherriff
Starring	Malcolm McDowell Christopher Plummer Simon Ward Peter Firth
Music by	Richard Hartley Charles Chilton
Cinematography	Gerry Fisher
Edited by	Anne V. Coates
Production company	S. Benjamin Fisz Productions Jacques Roitfeld (Les Productions)
Distributed by	EMI Films (UK)
Release date	19 May 1976 (1976-05-19) (UK) 8 June 1977 (1977-06-08) (France[1])
Running time	114 minutes
Country	United Kingdom France
Language	English
Budget	£1,250,000[2]

Aces High turns the trench warfare of Journey's End into the aerial battles fought above the Western Front by the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in 1917. The film covers a week of a squadron where the high death rate puts an enormous strain on the surviving pilots. Many characters from Journey's End are maintained such as the idealistic officer whose sister is the girlfriend of a more senior officer who drinks too much, and the neuralgia-suffering officer accused of funking or cowardly fright.

Plot

In October 1916, fighter ace John Gresham (Malcolm McDowell) speaks to the senior class at Eton College. A year later, new recruit, 2nd Lt. Croft (Peter Firth), arrives at Gresham's temporary base in northern France. Gresham had been his house captain at Eton and is also the boyfriend of Croft's older sister.

Gresham relies on alcohol to continue flying because of severe combat stress. Faced with being responsible for the safety of Croft (and the potential impact his loss would have on his sister), Gresham drinks even more heavily. Croft is forced to learn quickly on how to survive - both in the air and on the ground - because aerial combat and squadron etiquette are both merciless. In his week-long rite of passage from naive schoolboy to military pilot, his youthful adoration of Gresham is replaced with respect as he comes to understand the severe strain endured by his commanding officer.

By the end of the week, Croft seems to have acquired the necessary combat skills when he shoots down his first plane. However, he is suddenly killed in an air-to-air collision with a German aircraft. Back at base, Gresham sees an apparition of an uninjured, smiling Croft through his office window. After the image fades, Gresham orders the next young replacement pilots to be sent in for his inspection.

Cast

(Name in brackets for the equivalent character in Journey's End.)

• Malcolm McDowell as Major[lower-alpha 1] John Gresham (Capt. Dennis Stanhope)
• Christopher Plummer as Capt. "Uncle" Sinclair (Lt. Osborne)
• Simon Ward as Lieutenant Crawford (2nd Lt. Hibbert)
• Peter Firth as 2nd Lt. Stephen Croft (2nd Lt. Raleigh)
• David Wood as Lieutenant "Tommy" Thompson (2nd Lt. Trotter)
• John Gielgud as Headmaster at Eton
• Trevor Howard as Lieutenant Colonel Silkin
• Richard Johnson as Major Lyle
• Ray Milland as Brigadier General Whale
• Christopher Blake as Lieutenant Roberts
• David Daker as Mess Corporal Bennett
• Barry Jackson as Corporal Albert Joyce
• Ron Pember as Lance Corporal Eliot
• Tim Pigott-Smith as Major Stoppard
• Gilles Behat as Beckenaur
• Elliot Cooper as Wade
• Jacques Maury as Ponnelle
• Jeanne Patou as French Singer
• Pascale Christophe as Croft's Girlfriend
• John Serret as French Colonel
• Gerard Paquis as French Officer
• Jean Driant - Corporal Dressing Station
• Judy Buxton as French Girl
• Tricia Newby as French Girl
• Penny Irving as French Girl
• Roland Viner as Officer
• Steven Pacey as Officer
• Kim Lotis as Officer Batman
• Jane Anthony as Katherine
• Evelyn Cordeau as French Girl
• Paul Henley as Replacement
• David Arnold as Replacement
• Paul Rosebury as Replacement
• James Cormack as School Captain

Production

Development

The idea for the film came from producer Benny Fisz, who had served in the RAF in the Second World War, who pitched the idea of remaking Journey's End to British director Jack Gold. Although initially wary of it being an aviation film, Gold agreed after Howard Barker revised the screenplay. Gold said he was attracted to the film because "That was innocence, extreme youth, marred lives of these pilots who knew they are going to die. And we could show not only chivalry and bravery but also the fear."[3] "What interests me is human relationships," said Gold. "Aces High has aerial battle scenes but they're not just thrown in. It has songs but they're not just cue music. They do tell something about the characters."[4]

The movie was co-financed by EMI Films.[2]

Casting

Peter Firth and Christopher Plummer joined Malcolm McDowell, who agreed to appear in the film because Gold had such a good reputation among actors at the time.[4]

Filming

The shooting schedule took seven weeks with one week for rehearsal.[4] Exteriors were shot Spain and in Southern England with principal photography at Booker Airfield, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, as well as St Katharine Docks and Eton College. Interiors were completed at Pinewood Studios.[5]

The production paid close attention to authenticity with First World War era equipment being used throughout the film such as the airfield facilities, barracks and motor transport. The depicted squadron (known as 76 Squadron)[6] is loosely based on 56 Squadron, which flew the S.E.5 that regained Allied air superiority in mid 1917.[7]

Some scenes are based on real RFC stories, such as pilots choosing between jumping to their deaths or burning alive in their aircraft (as they were not issued parachutes).[8] The juvenile mess room songs and young pilots "public school" attitudes capture the fatalistic attitudes of the time, when the life expectancy of a new pilot could be measured in weeks.[9]

Aerial sequences

S.E.5a (200 h.p. geared Hispano-Suiza with 4-bladed propeller) of No. 56 Squadron RAF.

Although the film reused some aerial sequences from The Blue Max (1966) and Von Richthofen and Brown (1971),[10] the producers shot their own flight scenes. All British S.E.5s were heavily modified Stampe SV.4s, a Belgian two-seat trainer that first flew in the 1930s.[11] Gresham's plane was a period Avro 504.[12][lower-alpha 2]

German aircraft were all adapted post-WWI aircraft except for a replica Fokker E-III Eindecker. The reproduction is seen when it is brought down intact and its pilot given a toast by his British counterparts.[13] Production stills show Malcolm McDowell (Gresham) posing with a Bristol M.1C but this particular plane does not appear in the finished film.

Director Jack Gold later recalled "It was very difficult to obtain those planes. Sometimes we used models or archive footage. Action sequences in the air were very difficult to make and they were also very much tied with story. I had great assistant in Derek Cracknell and great specialist for special effects."[3]

Release

The film was not shown in US cinemas. HBO premiered it in 1979.[14]

Reception

Film historian Michael Paris saw Aces High as another of the period films that attempted to "de-mystologise" warfare.[15] Film archivist and historian Stephen Pendo saw the "good aerial photography by Gerry Fisher" as the strength of a film that played more as "standard fare".[16]

Legacy

The song "Aces High" by Iron Maiden is named after and inspired by the film, although takes place during the Second World War, whereas the film takes place in the First World War. Iron Maiden frequently name songs after war films.[17]

The episode of Blackadder Goes Forth titled "Private Plane", during the aerial sequence, reuses scenes from Aces High.[18]

References

Notes

1. shown as a captain in the opening prologue, and as a major in the Western Front scenes set a year later
2. The Nieuport 17, which "Uncle" says is the one preferred by Gresham, is actually an S.E.5.[12]

Citations

1. "Le Tigre du ciel." EncycloCiné. Retrieved: 16 March 2015.
2. "Boost for studios."The Guardian, 9 July 1975, p. 5.
3. "Jack Gold: Independence is freedom to execute in personal style". United Film.
4. Mills, Bart (1 November 1975). "Riders in the sky". The Guardian. p. 8M.
5. Orriss 2013, p 133.
6. which was actually stationed in England throughout WWI and never saw combat duty
7. Jackson, Robert (2007). Britain's Greatest Aircraft. Pen and Sword. p. 18. ISBN 1-84415-600-1.
8. "Why Pilots Didn't Wear Parachutes during World War 1". www.thehistoryreader.com. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
9. "First World War flying training - Taking Flight". www.rafmuseum.org.uk. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
10. "Review: Aces High". www.historyonfilm.com. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
11. "Stampe et Vertongen SV.4: 1933". www.aviastar.org. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
12. Carlson 22. p. 50.
13. Beck 2016, p. 10.
14. Buckley, Tom (12 October 1979). "At the Movies". New York Times. p. C6.
15. Paris 1995, p. 46.
16. Pendo 1985, p. 115.
17. "92 Squadron - Geoffrey Wellum." RAF website, 2 March 2009. Retrieved: 29 June 2017.
18. "Trivia: 'Private Plane'." Internet Movie Database Retrieved: 29 June 2017.

Bibliography

• Beck, Simon D. The Aircraft Spotter's Film and Television Companion. Jefferson, North Carolina, 2016. ISBN 978-1-476-66349-4.
• Carlson, Mark. Flying on Film: A Century of Aviation in the Movies, 1912–2012. Duncan, Oklahoma: BearManor Media, 2012. ISBN 978-1-59393-219-0.
• Orriss, Bruce W. When Hollywood Ruled the Skies: The Aviation Film Classics of World War I. Los Angeles: Aero Associates, 2013. ISBN 978-0-692-02004-3.
• Paris, Michael. From the Wright Brothers to Top gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995. ISBN 978-0-7190-4074-0.
• Pendo, Stephen. Aviation in the Cinema. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. ISBN 0-8-1081-746-2.

External links

• Aces High on IMDb
• allmovie/synopsis