An interesting "what if" for fans of 50s British cinema - would this movie, the most popular of it's year in Britain, been as well received had Richard Burton played the lead role, as originally intended? Burton was talented, no doubt - good looking, charismatic and all that - but he had a gloominess about him. Kenneth More had a persona of cheerful determination - the plucky, happy, stiff upper lip - that makes this less depressing than Burton surely would have made it. It also feels more realistic and less self-pitying. The result was the biggest hit of More's career.
The basic material is fascinating of course: Douglas Bader the legless war ace. He starts of the movie as a cocky, bouncy brat who is hugely confident in his own abilities and distrustful of authority... and kind of ends up that way. The difference is he finds a worth challenge to sink his teeth into: first adjusting to life without legs, then fighting the war, then escaping.
The treatment is very much 50s British war film: lots of bland character actors, black and white photography, and forced cheeriness. Muriel Pavlov is sweet and warm in a role that doesn't require her to be much more than that (but is still important). It goes on far too long - the training sequence with the Canadians drags especially (was this put in to hopefully appeal to the North American market?)
It also seems to get less serious as the story progresses - losing legs and the subsequent struggle is treated dead seriously, but the war is mostly fun and games, and being a POW is a lark (the final bit has Bader/More mocking German guards and his fellow prisoners laughing). And I wish Bader hadn't repeated that nurse's name Brace so much during his recuperation sequence (they set her up as this possible romantic interest but it's not taken up - maybe she got sick of him hearing him say "Brace", "Brace" all the time).
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