The Way Ahead (1944)

Director:

Carol Reed

Writers:

Eric Ambler (screenplay)
Eric Ambler (story)

Release Date:

3 June 1945 (USA)

Genre:

War | Drama

Plot:

A group of conscripts are called up into the infantry during WWII. At first they appear a hopeless bunch...

Plot Keywords:

British Army | Basic Training | Desert Rats | Class Distinction | Remake

Cast

David Niven	...	Lieutenant Jim Perry
Stanley Holloway	...	Pvt. Ted Brewer
James Donald	...	Pvt. Lloyd
John Laurie	...	Pvt. Luke
Leslie Dwyer	...	Pvt. Sid Beck
Hugh Burden	...	Pvt. Bill Parsons
Jimmy Hanley	...	Pvt. Geoffrey Stainer (as Jimmie Hanley)
William Hartnell	...	Sgt. Ned Fletcher (as Billy Hartnell)
Reginald Tate	...	The Training Company Commanding Officer
Leo Genn	...	Captain Edwards
John Ruddock	...	Old Soldier
A. Bromley Davenport	...	Old Soldier (as Bromley Davenport)
Renée Asherson	...	Marjorie Gillingham (as Renee Asherson)
Mary Jerrold	...	Mrs. Gillingham
Tessie O'Shea	...	Herself (singer)

Also Known As:

The Immortal Battalion (USA) (cut version)

Runtime:

115 min | USA:91 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

UK:U

Filming Locations:

Denham Studios, Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Two Cities Films

Trivia:

David Niven reports in his autobiography that the film was shown for many years for training at Sandhurst (the British Army's officer training school).

Goofs:

Continuity: Following some energetic army training, Private Bill Parsons is seen sitting on the grass at the top of a cliff, with his colleagues, exhausted. However, the action then cuts to him being helped up the cliff.

Quotes:

Pvt. Ted Brewer: Only one good man ever got into Parliament.
Pvt. Herbert Davenport: Oh really? Who?
Pvt. Ted Brewer: Bleedin' Guy Fawkes.

Movie Connections:

Remake of The New Lot (1943)

Jerrie's attacked and broken through our front lines!

(Minor Spoilers) One of the very best war movies to be made while WWII was still in progress with almost no hint of propaganda and false or movie-like heroism on the part of the good guys a squad,not battalion, of British Tommies in the North African desert. Released in London on June 6, 1944 D-Day, the film was released in the USA a year later as "The Immortal Battalion, "The Way Ahead" couldn't have come at a better time with the Allies and Nazis in a life and death struggle on the beaches of Normandy.

The movie starts off with a number of British recruits well into their 20's or even early 30's getting the hang of military life which at first they greatly, like their first sergeant Ned Fletcher(William Hertwell), dislike. As the trooper are whipped into shape by the though as nails Sgt. Fletcher and their commanding officer the soft spoken Let. Jim Perry, Davd Niven, their slated to sail to French North Africa to participate in the invasion, in Operation Torch, of Vichy France's colonies Algeria and Tunisia. As things turn out the troop ship that their in gets struck by a German U-boat torpedo and sinks, with half the battalion lost, in the Mediterranean Sea.

With Let.Perry's unite now reduced to company size it's sent to Gibraltar for what seems like the remainder of the war. It's not until the battle of El Alamein starts to turn against the British Eight Army that Let. Perry's men are immediately sent to the front lines to stop the German Afrika's Corps advance. We , as well as Perry's men, finally get to see action as Let. Perry's men are outflanked and cut off by the advancing German troops as the battle of El Alamein rages on behind their backs.

Fghting for their very lives and almost out of ammunition the trapped and outnumbered British troops at the end of the movie tack on their bayonets and walk out of the safety of their barricaded and fixed position, the Rispoli Café, to confront the heavily armed Germans. And at the same time walk into the pages of history in both courage and valor under fire.

You just can't keep from holding back your tears in watching the movie knowing that almost all the cast will eventually end up killed or captured. The movie both didn't overemphasize the British Troops as well as downplay Rommell's Africa Corps. Both parties came across equally brave and effective in the fighting that takes pace in the film. Which is very rare in war movies were one side, the one who makes the film, is shown vastly superior morally as well as militarily over the other: The one that the side who made the movie is at war with.

P.S Look for both Actor Peter Ustinov as café owner Rispoli and Trevor Howard as the troop ships, that goes under the waves, officer in the movie.