jghbrown The biggest mistake they made with this movie was to call it "Aces High", because some people are only going to think it's a flying flick and start criticizing the equipment and the "realism" of the action. The second biggest mistake was to say it was modeled on R.C. Sheriff's play "Journeys End", because it doesn't matter a damn whether it was or not. It has its own space - in this case it is air space.In essence it's a movie about the relationships between three men during the years of carnage and crass stupidity which was World War I. These men are Gresham (Malcolm McDowell), Croft (Peter Firth) and "Uncle" (Christopher Plummer). These relationships are portrayed in a very British way insofar as the feelings between them are UNSPOKEN. This can lead to some people wondering if the writers had forgotten that they were supposed to know each other. However, the thing to watch out for is the body language. For instance, Peter Firth has a most expressive and sensitive face. One can almost feel the adoration he holds for his former house captain (and lover of his sister), and his feelings of being crushed by Gresham's coolness (some would say rudeness) towards him are also palpable. Stoneyface, bottle-hitting Gresham doesn't like to express any emotion at all. However, it isn't because he dislikes Croft but because he loves him. Some military fellows might think I'm talking about homosexuality here, but actually I just mean the love that people of either sex can have for each other. But, heck, here I am going on about love and stuff and I haven't even mentioned that the planes weren't quite authentic. Never mind, I'll get back to that.Now, to complete the triangle we have "Uncle", as played with great sensitivity and tact by Christopher Plummer. Uncle's fatherliness towards the crestfallen and confused young Croft is one of the things which makes this movie a joy to watch. So too is the obvious love between Gresham and Uncle. Hell, there I am banging on about love again and this is supposed to be a war film and people killing each other and stuff.But that's the essence of it. You have the love and you have the killing, and that's the thing that seems not to make much sense. I'd say this was probably the point the movie was trying to make. Of course, there were a lot of other great characters involved, including a dog. However, in the interests of cutting a long story short I've concentrated on the main thrust so to speak.Now, as to the planes....

writers_reign I find myself in agreement with one of the people who reviewed this in these pages; I, too, have an aversion to Malcolm McDowell but am forced to concede that he was excellent as the self-aware, self-hating role model, what today we would describe as a poster boy for recruitment drives. Christopher Plummer was also excellent although the part was so well written he could have phoned it in. It's difficult to understand why they did not just film Journey's End as it stood, i.e. a story of infantry rather than airborne personnel but having opted for the change - and bizarrely changing the character's names, Stanhope, Raleigh, etc, despite hiring R.C. Sheriff to work on the screenplay and acknowledging the source material in the credits - they make a decent enough fist of it.

Jackson Booth-Millard I may not have paid the biggest attention to this film while it was on, but from what I did watch properly it was a good old fashioned film from director Jack Gold (Goodnight Mister Tom). Basically, it is World War I and the film focuses on the Royal Flying Corps. Flying fighter ace Maj. John Gresham (A Clockwork Orange's Malcolm McDowell) runs the base, and he has to deal with new recruits. There is some story of a particular new recruit, Lt. Stephen Croft (Peter Firth), but the film is dominated, and made fun to watch, by the many plane battles filled with roars, shooting and explosive crashes. Also starring The Sound of Music's Christopher Plummer as Capt. 'Uncle' Sinclair, Simon Ward as Lt. Crawford , Arthur's John Gielgud as Headmaster, Trevor Howard as Lieutenant Colonel Silkin, Richard Johnson as Major Lyle, Dial M for Murder's Ray Milland as Brigadier General Whale, David Wood as Lt. 'Tommy' Thompson, Christopher Blake as Lieutenant Roberts, Gilles Béhat as Captain Beckenauer, David Daker as Mess Corporal Bennett, Elliott Cooper as Lieutenant Wade, Barry Jackson as Corporal Albert Joyce, Jacques Maury as Ponnelle, Ron Pember as Lance Corporal Eliot, Johnny English's Tim Pigott-Smith as Major Stoppard and Jeanne Patou as French Singer. As I mentioned, the plane action is pretty much the only highlight of the film, well, and some familiar faces, but it's okay. It was nominated the BAFTA for Film Award Best Cinematography. Worth watching!

Theo Robertson 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