Spies of the Air

An enjoyable contemporary thriller edited by David Lean.

Although Barry K. Barnes is technically the leading man, the film belongs (as did 'The Life and Colonel Blimp' four years later) to Roger Livesey, who rarely got top billing as he was never conventional leading man material despite his enormous charisma and abundant star quality.

What makes this film remarkable is the extremely skilful editing, by which it was put together, and the editor was no one less than David Lean.

It starts off rather moderately without much excitement, Roger Livesey being busy about directing his test pilot in waging his life in daredevil experiments in the air, but things begin looking serious when the test pilot starts courting Roger's wife. From that moment the suspense steadily increases to reach a tremendous climax in the air. There are quite a few murders or casualties on the way of an intrigue that constantly gets more worryingly complicated.

The music is also quite good, but it's the editing that makes the film an ace of efficiency. It was made before the war but shown when the war had started, which made it look even more serious. It's a small but enduring classic.

Roger Livesey has developed a new super-charger for airplanes and his boss hopes for a contract with the RAF. When Livesey finds that someone has been rifling his files, he tells spymaster Felix Aylmar, who knows about everything. He already has a spy of his own on site. In the meantime, his test pilot, Barry Barnes, is carrying on an affair with Livesey's wife, Joan Marion. Plot complications pop up, including a blackmailer in this top-of-the-line potboiler.

It's not just that director David MacDonald has topnotch actors in front of the camera, including Basil Radford. Cinematographer Bryan Langley keeps the camera moving, and collaborates with editor David Lean to produce an exciting first three minutes of the movie. There's nothing here that is particularly novel, but it's all put together in a brilliant manner.