Spitfire (AKA “The First of the Few”)
Directed by Leslie Howard
Written by Miles Malleson and Anatole de Grunwald; story by Henry C. James and Kay Strobe
1942/UK
British Aviation Pictures
First viewing/Amazon Prime Instant Video
[box] Geoffrey Crisp: [Sotto voce, to the heavens] They can’t take the Spitfires Mitch. They can’t take ’em.[/box]
This is a fairly standard biopic about the engineer who designed the Spitfire fighter used by the RAF to great effect in WWII.
RAF squadron commander Geoffrey Crisp (David Niven) tells the history of the plane they fly to his men. Segue to flashback. R.J. Mitchell (Leslie Howard) was a very successful designer of seaplanes that consistently won important races. But he dreams of building a plane that flies like a bird. It takes him years to get the financing to realize his dreams. He enjoys the constant support of test pilot Crisp, though. When the two decide to take a holiday in Germany shortly before the outbreak of WWII, Mitchell becomes totally committed to his idea as a high-speed fighter plane. He proceeds to work himself to death to get the plane into production before war breaks out.
Spitfire plays on all the standard biopic tropes of the inventor who overcomes great odds to bring his ideas to fruition. There are some good shots of WWII bombers and fighters in action.
This was the last on-screen performance of Leslie Howard before his plane was tragically shot down in 1943.
Clip – opening
