- Actors: Leslie Howard, David Niven, Rosamund John, Roland Culver, Anne Firth
- Directors: Leslie Howard
- Writers: Anatole de Grunwald, Henry C. James, Katherine Strueby, Miles Malleson
- Producers: Leslie Howard, George King, John Stafford
- Format: PAL, Mono, Full Screen, Black & White
- Language English
- Classification: U
- Studio: DD Video
- VHS Release Date: 7 Aug 2000
- Run Time: 90 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00004RSI7
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 9,845 in Video (See Top 100 in Video)
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Product Description
Highly acclaimed, early 40's biopic about the 1920's aircraft designer R.J. Mitchell (Leslie Howard - The Scarlet Pimpernel; Pygmalion) who feels he has achieved all he wants with his revolutionary mono-planes winning trophy after trophy. But a holiday in Germany shortly after Hitler assumes power convinces him that it is vital to design a completely new type of fighter plane and that sooner or later Britain's very survival may depend on what he comes to call the Spitfire.
Also starring David Niven (A Matter of Life and Death; The Guns of Navarone) as test pilot Geoffrey Crisp & Rosamund John (The Way to the Stars; Green for Danger) as Mitchell's wife, Diana.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The first of the few, produced in the middle of World War II pays tribute to the small team designing and building the Spitfire. The film tells a simple story about the principle character RJ Mitchell and his fight to get the Spitfire designed and built in an essentially honest and none jingoistic way. This is not a historical documentary and facts have been altered or left out. However, it is a film I would recommend to all, not just aviation buffs and it would make an ideal rainy Saturday afternoon film for Dad and the kids.
29 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Although made at the height of WW2, this film is far from mere propaganda. As well as showcasing the fine acting and direction of Leslie Howard, it tells the story of a genuine hero. While the events of the film are heavily fictionalised, the basic story about RJ Mitchell's dedication to the creation of the perfect flying machine, (and then the perfect fighter aircraft) even at the expense of his health, is entirely true.
There have been many attempts to debunk the mythos surrounding the "Battle Of Britain" in recent years, largely as a result of social change. This film puts it back in context, as the struggle of a small group of individuals which helped win the war everyone fought.
As the character Crisp (David Niven), loosely based on real-life test pilot Jeffrey Quill, says at the close of the close of the film "They can't take the Spitfires Mitch, they can't take them...". The fact we all still speak English in England is a tribute to that. This film is a fine tribute to a great engineer and a great aircraft.
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
A compelling insight into the development of the supermarine spitfire from, from schnieder trophy sea planes that where developed prior to the spitfire, and how the spitfire helped win the Battle of Britain.
A very British Movie with an excellent cast. Very watchable
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
second world war
A 13teen year old asked me about Spitfires,and the role they played in ww2,this film came to mind,so i got it for her,as its the story of the birth of the spitfire,and tells the... Read more
Published 8 months ago by sueb
Interesting, worthwhile, historical
While the special effects are hardly up to modern standards, the film, although slow to start, details the history of the single-winged aircraft, up to the production of the... Read more
Published on 15 Mar 2004 by Filmbuff
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