Milland stars as Clay Douglas, an American whose brother Hank enlisted in the British Army in World War II prior to the formal entering into the fray of his country. Clay wants to know what happened to his brother and so tracks down members of his unit. We sense that Clay is pulling on a thread and some unwanted unravelling is happening.
The first part of the movie is noticeable for some really interesting documentary style footage. It feels very sad when you see the jobs that some of the commandos have come back to. Imagine going on very risky missions behind enemy lines only to return to Blighty and be sent back down into the coalpits. Various of Clay's interviews take place at real workplaces of interest.
There's also a feeling of some emotional maturity. Soldiers aren't heroes or villains, there are in between characters, with their own complexities. We don't have a reductive band of brothers motif when we look at this motif, nor do we have a Quantrell's raiders style polar opposite motif. The dialogue between Clay and his love interest gets pretty sophisiticated (Patricia Roc does a fine job), and there is plenty of chemistry.
Marius Goring reprises somewhat his impresario type role from Red Shoes, and bolsters a fine supporting cast.
What everyone who watches the film notices is a really improbable aspect to the ending (alongside a clever twist it should be said). It's not the only structural issue. The film is set at the start of the 50s, but can provide no good reason why Clay waits so long after the war ends to come looking for his brother's story. He was working on a salvage operation with a target of securing twenty five thousand dollars, although no indication whatsoever is given about why he should need such a vast sum (for the time), to go and make inquiries in Britain.
It does help to watch this on a big screen with an audience so you can share in the ripples of laughter at the light relief dating strand in the movie, and to make the documentary type scenes impress all the more.
In its emotional timbre, occasionally the movie is really quite rousing, and it enabled this viewer to overlook some of the obvious structural issues. It was a pity they weren't ironed out pre-production and it feels like the studio felt like this was an assembly line piece, despite some great creatives and synergies being brought to bear on it.
The first part of the movie is noticeable for some really interesting documentary style footage. It feels very sad when you see the jobs that some of the commandos have come back to. Imagine going on very risky missions behind enemy lines only to return to Blighty and be sent back down into the coalpits. Various of Clay's interviews take place at real workplaces of interest.
There's also a feeling of some emotional maturity. Soldiers aren't heroes or villains, there are in between characters, with their own complexities. We don't have a reductive band of brothers motif when we look at this motif, nor do we have a Quantrell's raiders style polar opposite motif. The dialogue between Clay and his love interest gets pretty sophisiticated (Patricia Roc does a fine job), and there is plenty of chemistry.
Marius Goring reprises somewhat his impresario type role from Red Shoes, and bolsters a fine supporting cast.
What everyone who watches the film notices is a really improbable aspect to the ending (alongside a clever twist it should be said). It's not the only structural issue. The film is set at the start of the 50s, but can provide no good reason why Clay waits so long after the war ends to come looking for his brother's story. He was working on a salvage operation with a target of securing twenty five thousand dollars, although no indication whatsoever is given about why he should need such a vast sum (for the time), to go and make inquiries in Britain.
It does help to watch this on a big screen with an audience so you can share in the ripples of laughter at the light relief dating strand in the movie, and to make the documentary type scenes impress all the more.
In its emotional timbre, occasionally the movie is really quite rousing, and it enabled this viewer to overlook some of the obvious structural issues. It was a pity they weren't ironed out pre-production and it feels like the studio felt like this was an assembly line piece, despite some great creatives and synergies being brought to bear on it.