First Light

If you are looking for an action movie, look elsewhere. This semi-documetary biopic gives an honest, no frills account of life as an RAF Spitfire pilot during WW2.

I have always wanted to know of the real experiences of the WW2 Battle of Britain fighter pilots and here is one of the best presentations of one man's personal experiences. His story is beautifully dramatised, with some great air fights and on the ground the boredom, the fears as well as the good times. What the movie does best is convey the men's struggle to keep going when utterly exhausted and facing the possibility of death at any time. It's an intimate study and I believe a truthful one. The pilot Geoffrey "Boy" Wellum was still alive at the time of the making of the movie (because he was only a teenager when he first flew) and in voiceover reflects on those days. His final words are heart-breaking. Was it all worth it? To complement this film, a wonderful history of the Battle of Britain is in an episode of Battlefield Britain presented by Peter and Dan Snow on BBC DVD.

I wasn't really taken with this-we've seen it all before, done better elsewhere, when the vintage aircraft necessary to put the flying sequences together weren't quite so scarce (or valuable), and there was less reliance on SFX-the world has become a poorer place since the introduction of CGI. It's difficult to pinpoint exactly what was missing from this production. The lead character, while not simply two-dimensional, gave nothing to quicken the blood. Even the 'scramble' scenes seemed slow and plodding, as though the actors were simply doing it by the numbers. Some of the action footage was unforgivably bad (as has been pointed out elsewhere, some of it was pinched from other films), and there was little in the way of back-story or characterization. The film wasn't improved by punctuation from the (fictional) lead character as an old man, analyzing his attitudes and feelings at the time... It was rather as though the cast felt as exhausted and bone-weary as the boys felt in 1941...All in all, I should say turn off the TV, and enjoy a good book like 'Sigh for a Merlin', or, re-watch one of the classics like "Battle of Britain" or even "633 Squadron", which convey that sense of urgency and derring-do far more convincingly-one last thing, another reviewer here has questioned whether the sound footage was really the real McCoy: I concur, a Merlin has a much denser, richer, raucous sound-these were obviously piston engines, possibly Merlin Is, but more likely Kestrels or Goshawks.

We all know the classic "the battle of Britain", the definitive movie about the British struggle to keep the Germans out of the UK in WWII. This has a lot of the same in it but then with bit's of narration from an actual pilot. It's reasonably played and in a way it's interesting to hear the actual pilot's comments in between the bits of movie. I just wish it the story was told in a more story telling way, it's too flat really. It's less about the actual flying and more about the physiological effects on the lead person, the combat stress. It's interesting to see that side but it misses a bit of something that makes the rating of this TV movie not as high as it could be. I don't claim to be a Spitfire connoisseur, but, the sounds of the Rolls Royce Merlin engine in the movie just does not sound right. I've heard them in real life at air shows and the famous Merlin engine has a much more growling sound, it's very unique in an engine sort of way, it's a symphony. If you are not too much into the history of WWII or airplanes or life of the pilots don't watch, you'll be bored. If you do are interested, watch it indeed, after all it's a real WWII hero that the story is about, and hero's they were, as in Winston's words, never have so few done so much for so many.

I have always had a thing for Spitfires. They are my all time favourite plane. I'm lucky enough to live quite near a small airfield and one flies over quite regularly. The sound of the engine is so recognisable - even to a total non expert like me. The pilots of these amazing planes were heroes, no getting away from that, and although I've seen war films before,(Reach for the Sky being one I have watched many times!) I found this film to be a bit of an eye opener. Having seen it was based on the journal of the pilot himself - makes it all more realistic. Thought Mr Heughan did a first class job playing Wellum. And the rest of the supporting cast were good too. Would liked to have seen a little more of what happens to the characters after he left, but at least there was a small write up on this before the credits go up! An enjoyable film.