When I started this movie, I didn't remember why it was in my watchlist. I want to point out this is related to the Battle of Britain with the title coming from the Churchill quote, "Never was so much owed by so many to so few." The lead actor, Leslie Howard, is also the producer and director. Tragically, he was killed when the Luftwaffe shot down the civilian airliner he was in days before the film released in the United States.
This movie was about R. J. Mitchell, the father of the Supermarine Spitfire. The first half of the movie is Mitchell's history making seaplanes, and then he takes a holiday in Germany. There he finds out the Germans are rearming. He's then determined to make a plane to protect England.
There are a lot of real pilots in this film and a lot of flight footage. I was entertained for most of the movie. The very beginning seemed a bit slow.
For some reason, some of the inaccuracies bothered me. Most of the time, it doesn't. When you're dealing with a real person, I think it's important to either be as accurate as possible or just say outright that you're taking liberties. Mitchell never met Messerschmitt. I couldn't figure out if the dinner at the Richthofen Club really happened. I didn't discover whether that was even a real place. The other thing was Mitchell's death. The movie gave the impression he could get better if he rested, but he actually had cancer. I don't know why they changed that. Whatever. Oh! And the Rolls-Royce Merlin was named for a bird of prey! Not a wizard...
I admire these men. Beyond the movie, I just imagine the talent and guts it had for these men to accomplish what they did. Mitchell was an intelligent man who used his talents to create a plane that was one of the best in the war. The character of the test pilot actually represented a few different real men, and my hats off to them as well. It takes a special kind of person to do things like that for sure! Good Movie!
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