The Way Ahead (1944)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Carol Reed

Writers:

Eric Ambler (screenplay)
Eric Ambler (story)

Release Date:

3 June 1945 (USA)

Genre:

War | Drama

Tagline:

A Story of Today---YOU'LL REMEMBER FOREVER! (original ad - several caps)

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Sergeant | North Africa | Conscript | British Army | Army

Cast

David Niven	...	Lieutenant Jim Perry
Stanley Holloway	...	Pvt. Ted Brewer
James Donald	...	Pvt. Evans 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 Chelsea Soldier
A. Bromley Davenport	...	Old Chelsea Soldier (as Bromley Davenport)
Renée Asherson	...	Marjorie Gillingham (as Renee Asherson)
Mary Jerrold	...	Mrs. Gillingham
Tessie O'Shea	...	Herself - ENSA Entertainer

Also Known As:

The Immortal Battalion (USA) (cut version)

Runtime:

115 min | USA:91 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

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:

Remake of the Army Kinematograph Service film "The New Lot"

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)

Best war movie made in the 2nd World War

I really can't understand some of the more negative comments from some reviewers from the USA about this movie. For me, it is far superior to equivalent American wartime propaganda movies (including enjoyable but hardly realistic efforts such as 7 Graves To Cairo and Sahara), and made and acted by a British cast who were serving servicemen as well (unlike a certain J. Wayne or H. Bogart). Carol Reed gives us on the surface a cliche ridden movie but his gritty visual style which would become his trademark plus a script that still gives depth to a by now familiar concept lift this way above other movies made at the time.

The soldiers don't look pristine and for most of the time, don't act heroically until the last 5 minutes. They're not an elite unit (as in Sands of Iwo Jima), they grumble, complain and stagger their way to the front lines but nor are they goofballs, pranksters or loveable rogues. They are ordinary men in difficult times, which was what the film makers wanted to show. They are not all broad stereotypes either; some, like the characters Davenport or Brewer, may on the surface seem like the upper class toff and the cheeky cockney but again, the way they interplay with the rest of the cast, they become more than just representatives of their class.

For an old war movie, I was impressed with the action. Early on, when the two old soldiers are talking about how much better it was in the army in their day, we get a juxtaposed montage of David Niven in training, showing how hard it is. A lot of the burning troop ship shots are done hand held, which adds to the tension. The Tunisia scenes look very authentic and see how Reed indulges in rapid cutting, disorienting explosions and run down and dirty art direction. The only film that comes close to achieving this kind of grittiness in the war years is "Guadalcanal Diary".