Ases do Espaço

Interesting War drama taken from British point of view . Spectacular and colorful WWI airplane movie with an enjoyable casting and breathtaking aerial battles . Splendid aerial scenes stunningly staged , being wonderfully photographed by Gerry Fisher and adequate musical score by Richard Hartley are the chief assets of this enjoyable film . In WW1 the high casualty rate among the rookie pilots of the Royal Flying Corps puts an enormous strain on the survivors . Pilots shooting down enemy planes but also suffering a lot of war losses . They carry out attacks on balloons that were extremely dangerous because machine guns and antiaircraft guns formed a protective circle beneath the balloons . Therefore pilots dived at a steep angle when they attacked , they did not attack horizontally . High above the trenches 14 days is a long life...This is the 15th day!

Spectacular dogfighting , interesting dramatics , overwhelming scenarios , top-drawer cast , agreeable interpretations bring to life attractive roles though tend toward cliché . Nice aerial sequences directed by Derek Cracknell but drama on the ground does a little boring . R.C. Sheriff's classic play about life in the trenches was reworked as a drama of fliers in the Royal Flying Corps by screen-writer Howard Barker . As the setting is transplanted from the trenches to an airfield , but most of the characters and some incidents are almost unchanged . Big-budget extended feats produced by Benjamin Fisz about unfortunate pilots undergoing risked feats on air . The main excitement results to be the grandiose spectacle of the planes , as on the ground roar rather less . Pretty good aerial flick full of thought-provoking issues , drama , fantastic cloudy scenes and spectacular dogfighting . The scene with the balloon observer jumping out with a parachute is reused footage from Blue Max (1966) by John Guillermin . Peter Firth shows professionalism as a crack fighter pilot , he plays a naive youth assigned to dangerous missions . Malcolm McDowell gives a restrained and intelligent acting as a veteran pilot . Top-notch support cast gives excellent performances as Christopher Plummer , Richard Johnson , Ray Milland , John Gielgud , Simon Ward , Trevor Howard and first cinema feature of Tim Pigott-Smith . Adequate photography by Gerry Fisher , though a perfect remastering being necessary . It was filmed at North Weald airfield, in Essex , a hangar that was built for the film was later used for sets of television .

The motion picture was professionally directed by Jack Gold . He was born in London and is a prestigious director and producer , known for Bofors guns (1968) , The Reckoning (1970) , Man Friday (1975) , The Medusa touch (1978) , The Chain (1984) , Escape from Sobibor (1987), and Goodnight, Mister Tom (1998) . ¨Aces high¨ is a rehash of the former airplane movie clichés in which the splendid casting stands out . Rating : nice and entertaining , it's a fairly watchable and breathtaking film and results to be a good treatment of WWI flying aces .

First of all I feel I`ve got to point out the two flaws of ACES HIGH

1 ) The film starts with the commonly held erroneous view that young men of whatever nation joined the army because they`d been brainwashed by glorious tales of derring do and had no idea of the horror awaiting them in the trenches . Not so in Britain at least since The Times newspaper published the names of every British serviceman killed at this time . One edition in July 1916 published over 20,000 names of the men killed during the Somme offensive , so to insinuate that the boys at the school had somehow only had Gresham`s account of the war to fall back on is somewhat naive . This might have happened in 1915 but not so when this film was set towards the end of 1916

2 ) ACES HIGH is based on the play JOURNEYS END except it revolves around a plane squadron which means when the chaps are at the airfield everything feels a bit too stagey while when they`re up in the air there`s a distinct lack of drama since the cast are indistinguishble with their goggle clad faces and their lack of dialogue

Having pointed out the flaws I can`t not mention the main strength and that`s the cast . Malcolm McDowell an actor I can`t usually stand at the best of times gives a superb performance as the bitter , cynical alcholic John Gresham . It`d be very easy for McDowell to give a very over the top performance ( Some might say that`s all he ever does ) but he`s both very convincing and disciplined here . Christopher Plummer is completely convincing as a paternal English officer ( Plummer was always good at this kind of role ) and Peter Firth - Despite being hampered with a character unsubtley written - is also good

Considering the limited budget the technical aspects are impressive enough with the sometimes slightly obvious backscreen projection hardly bringing the film down . It`s an anti-war film so its heart is in the right place but like many an anti-war film it`s somewhat heavy handed ( As I imagine the source play was ) and the ariel scenes with their lack of dialogue means a somewhat over dramatic film in places and an undramatic film in other places

Six out of ten

Written from the English point of view, this film seems to have it's tongue in it's cheek at times, but it's not at all funny. There are several flashes of humor in the early scenes, at the expense of the British upper class, but those quickly give way to the special horrors of the first war fought in the air.

Patriotic young pilots straight out of college lost their lives in literally a few days time, due to their inexperience and the stress of this new kind of battle. Malcolm McDowell has the unwelcome task of leading the 76th Squadron and also visiting colleges to drum up recruits, all the while knowing he's inviting them to an almost certain death. He keeps these new recruits at arms length to soften the blow to his mental health when they invariably get shot down. When he shows up at his own alma mater, an idealistic young man, played by Peter Firth, signs up for McDowell's squadron. On his arrival at the airfield, Firth sees the evidence of the turnover in pilots but fails to see the connection to his own longevity; a family photo and personal effects are whisked out of the room he's been assigned, right in front of his eyes. He is introduced to Simon Ward, a stony-faced pilot who by the end of the movie is finally driven insane by the awful, daily anticipation of his own death in battle.

The young pilots experience the respect that their station in the Air Corps elicits from the locals and from women, but at the same time they see how they are more likely to be killed than the average filthy foot soldier. Firth is taken with a local cabaret girl, who invites him to her room one night. The next night, when he expects her to be glad to see him, she ignores him and pays attention to an older, richer officer. The very next day the pilots are given the task of destroying German spotter balloons, which always have heavy gun and air protection, and the older pilots know this is almost a death warrant. Six planes go out, with McDowell and Firth in two of them, but you'll have to watch the film to find out how many come back.

A very good, but depressing, film, McDowell is subdued in his performance and seems to come out of his cocoon only at the end. This is necessary, I think, for his character to survive in the surroundings of constant tragedy. Firth is naive in the extreme, and this probably a correct portrayal of a green recruit in WWI, where there was no frame of reference for how dangerous those early airplanes were. The film shows us just how little the commanders valued the lives of their men by sending them out unprepared and inexperienced, and that they know after one group of fliers is decimated, there is always a fresh batch of innocent boys to take their place. I recommend the film highly, since it has a firm anti-war message.

This is an excellent film about WWI Royal Flying Corps and their fights against the Germans over the trenches.

Fantastic cast - McDowell, Trevor Howard, Peter Firth, Simon Ward and Christopher Plummer - they are all some of the best in the business at portraying English upper classes. Especially the mean McDowell (with his ironic speech at Eton 'we are caning them' when they're not really) and the callow Peter Firth, all Boys Own enthusiasm.

Shows the pious nature of the English elite, with John Gielgud as the headmaster spouting out empty platitudes about decency and 'playing the game' while, meanwhile, McDowell is playing dirty tricks on German pilots (the scene where he gets his opponent to land in the field and then destroys him as he walks towards his plane to offer help).

Fantastic aerial shots.

Ive seen this film about four times. A great film that didn't flinch from showing a class-ridden and brutal look at the reality of World War 1. Malcolm MacDowell was excellent as the Squadron Leader and Christopher Plummer was superb as the 'kindly uncle' figure who gave allowances and understanding to young pilots who were faced with the prospect of death every day on active duty.

World War One films are very hard to make , simply because the Director has to capture and expose the horror of a modern war in a period where the participants are caught in a mood of adventure and duty.Aces High demonstrates this fact entirely.

The film is based on the book Journeys End , and damn I missed it when it was on at the theatre , but hey. Anyway this film version is turned into the Play with Planes.

Anyway a great Film and brilliantly acted. I highly recommend this film to any war film buff , like myself.