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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A well-made, timeless British propaganda film, April 22, 2003
This review is from: One of Our Aircraft Is Missing [VHS] (VHS Tape)
One of Our Aircraft Is Missing is a British propaganda film from 1941; leaving aside the propaganda aspects, it is a well-made motion picture that was nominated for best original screenplay as well as best special effects at the 1942 American Academy Awards (Casablanca took best picture). It also did quite well at the box office. The British bomber Bertie takes a hit during a nighttime bombing raid over Stuttgart, Germany, and her six-man RAF crew is forced to parachute to safety over German-occupied Dutch territory. Five of the men are discovered by some friendly children and are taken to town where an English-speaking schoolteacher helps facilitate their escape. The men are furtively passed along the sixty or so miles to the North Sea through a veritable underground railroad of Dutch resistance, eventually linking up with the pilot they feared had been lost. Interestingly, the most heroic assistance comes from women like the schoolteacher Els Mertens and the truly remarkable Jo de Vries. De Vries supposedly hates the British for having killed her husband in an air raid and works closely with the local German forces whom she secretly despises; this makes her the perfect final contact for the English airmen seeking to return home by sea. The final stages of the great escape do prove somewhat harrowing, but the RAF men do honor to the ancient creed of "being British" throughout the most dangerous moments. De Vries delivers a stirring ovation for the resistance and war efforts, and any Englishman or American who didn't already hate the Germans would have been more than willing to take up arms immediately and rush off to The Netherlands to free this remarkable woman and her friends in the Dutch resistance from Hitler's nefarious grip. One of the more interesting aspects of the film has to do with the Dutch resistance in general; the Dutch have a way of obeying German orders in a way that never fails to get under the occupying soldiers' skins. One of Our Aircraft Is Missing proves that propaganda can sometimes have a completely positive connotation, and the story itself is well-presented and quite timeless in its appeal.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Propaganda, February 9, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: One of Our Aircraft Is Missing [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This war-time production by the Archers Studios and the famous writing/directing team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger is classic war time adventure. The crew of the British bomber, "B for Bertie" bails out over Nazi occupied Holland. The resistance finds the crew members and aids them in returning to England. Like their now out-of-print classic, 49th Parallel, the directorial team of Powell and Pressburger was assigned to make propaganda films to aid the war effort, what they produced were adventure epics. This film made such an impact that it was remade (presumably for the American audience) as Desperate Journey in 1942 with Errol Flyn and Ronald Reagan.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"W" for Wonderful, July 21, 2002
In some ways, this is even better than that other great Powell- Pressburger-Portman film, "49th Parallel." The casting here is uniformly perfect. All of the stars act with a natural grace that is a joy to watch. The propaganda is not too obvious, nor forced. And the sly humor of certain scenes is fun (don't miss Frank in a dress). Eric Portman is wonderful is usual, but the entire cast is terrific. Yes, that is Peter Ustinov as a priest! Don't miss this wonderful gem.
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