The Way to the Stars

Life on a bomber base in England is followed from the opening days of the Battle of Britain to the arrival of the Americans. Peter Penrose, a young officer fresh out of training, joins the squadron and learns what war is like day to day. He is drawn to Iris, who lives at the local hotel; but when the squadron commander is killed on a raid and leaves a wife and a small son behind, the idea of marriage turns into something else in Peter's eyes. Anthony Asquith's film opened as the war was ending and became one of the best loved examples of British war cinema. Air combat is almost never shown; the camera stays on the ground, among the people. Terence Rattigan wrote the screenplay and the poem in the film is John Pudney's. Michael Redgrave, John Mills and Rosamund John are in the cast. What the survivors do after the losses is the real subject.