Reach for the Sky (1956)

Reach for the Sky
Directed by Lewis Gilbert
Written by Lewis Gilbert and Vernon Harris from a book by Paul Brickhill
1956/UK
The Rank Organization/Angel Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Equipment Officer: I’m sorry, the book says I must wait three months before I can initiate the procedure for hastening new issue.

Bader: Fine! We’ll send Goering a telegram, and ask him not to come over for *three months”![/box]

This inspirational movie about a couple of different kinds of courage is based on a true story.

The setting is England in the run-up to and during WWII.  In the early 30’s Douglas Bader (Kenneth Moore) is sent to flight school for training as an RAF pilot.  The brash young man is not strong on the academics but is a great sportsman and an able flyer.  He gets into scrapes in which he crashes his car and finally crashes a plane doing unauthorized stunt flying.  In this later accident, he loses both of his legs.

Thereafter he devotes himself to a full-time effort to walk again on tin prosthetic legs without a cane.  He is proclaimed unfit to fly and leaves the RAF for a time.  When WWII starts, the military takes a different attitude and Bader gets his wings back.  He goes on to be a resourceful and courageous squadron leader.

Bader had a pilot’s arrogance, which tended to make his character annoying at times.  Moore makes him sympathetic despite that and does very well with the physical challenges of the part.  I found the film quite watchable.

Trailer