In a perfect world of course and as it applies to film there would be a definitive film in one genre and no one would bother trying to equal it and leave well enough alone. Alas, we don't live in a perfect world though we DO have a definitive Air Force British movie covering the second world war in the shape of Rattigan's The Way To The Stars which focused more on life on the ground than in the air. Angels One Five stupidly attempts to do the same thing and falls light years short making it more a way to the stairs - even the naughty stair - than to the stars. On the other hand there may well be those who remain ignorant of Rattigan's masterpiece and they will find this highly acceptable despite John Gregson's spot-on impression of a silver birch. Shot in the early fifties there was still enough of England left to capture on film and it must be films like this that inspired the New Left to obliterate it, sadly, where Hitler failed, Tony Blair virtually succeeded.
Review of Angels One Five
