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Bookmark this pageThe Way Ahead (1944)
Director: Carol Reed
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Scripted by Eric Ambler and Peter Ustinov, this is more complex than Dick Lester's scornful '60s parody of it in How I Won the War suggests. Reed achieves his transformation of a bunch of lazy, quarrelsome civilians into a proficient fighting force with a minimum of machismo and glory. Unlike today's sinister professional force, this is a people's army. Niven's officer is a car mechanic up from the ranks, and Hartnell's thin-lipped sergeant scourges out class differences with a rigorous application of army discipline. Despite a framework which stresses regimental traditions and military valour, the film's celebration of the ordinary man as soldier leaves a residue of radicalism.Author: RMy
Cast & crew
Director: Carol Reed
Producer: Norman Walker, John Sutro
Cast: David Niven, Stanley Holloway, Raymond Huntley, William Hartnell, James Donald, John Laurie, Leslie Dwyer, Hugh Burden, Jimmy Hanley, Renee Asherson, Trevor Howard full cast
Genre(s): War
Duration: 115 mins
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