Light Up the Sky!

You look at the cast and expect an out and out comedy. Instead what you get is a surprisingly well acted and poignant film that tells the story of a searchlight battery in world war two.

It has been many a year since I have seen "Light Up The Sky" but the first and remaining impression was one of Honesty. The presented story, acting and setting is completely honest.It reflects a real sentiment of the times and that for my opinion is very rare.The only down side is that the whole historical times of the film are very much sliding into the fast vanishing past. The film will be forgotten and our memories will die with us...very sad. You can sometimes obtain a used VHS tape from Ebay but it always reaches over $40. Why this is so has been a surprise to me not for the lack of quality in the film to command a good price but the persons around who are willing to purchase.

A unique film about a WWII searchlight battery. Great cast. Benny Hill is brilliant as a straight actor. I served in the last British Army Searchlight Squadron, 873 Movement Light Squadron. Royal Engineers. Technically the film is spot on and the special effects are good. I first saw this film when it first came out and have seen it several times since on TV. TV Choice give it one star. Shame on them. Ian

Before seeing this film I had only ever seen Benny Hill as the comic, seeing him in a straight role was a real eye opener because, in this film, he proved was a good straight actor as well. Combining Tommy Steele with Benny Hill was also a brainwave because they worked so well together as you can see from their performance of the title song " Light up the Sky. " The cast is full of good old British stalwarts such Ian Carmichael, still acting today and Dick Emery who was a brilliant comic in his own right. If you add back up from the likes of Victor Maddern, Sydney Tafler, Johnny Briggs and Sheila Hancock you have the makings of a truly excellent British movie. Sadly it is never shown on British TV and I have, so far, been unable to find a copy on VHS or DVD. If you do manage to find a copy of this film or you are lucky enough to see it on TV I can thoroughly recommend it.

When this film was made war films were very popular at the box office.Privates On Parade was the first film to poke fun at the army followed by Carry On Sergeant,and contemporaneously with this film Very Important Person.This film betrays its stage origins by spending far too long in the confines of the squad hut.A good cast is really not given enough comedy situations to handle.the tragedy and drama don't mix well with the comedy.There is a rather artificial beginning and end which is most unsatisfactory.Ian Carmichaels character is strangely written and portrayed.he treats his men as errant children rather than men.It is little surprise that Lewis Gilbert does not mention this film in his autobiog.It is clearly a film that he would prefer to forget.