The Way Ahead (1944) - film review

England, 1941.  A disparate group of conscripts, new recruits into the Duke of Glendon’s Light Infantry, grudgingly begin their training at Hacklefield army camp.  They take an immediate dislike to their sergeant-major, Ned Fletcher, and agree to report his relentless bullying to their commanding officer, Lieutenant Jim Perry.  When Sergeant Fletcher continues to maltreat the recruits, they transfer their loathing to Perry and sabotage a training exercise in an attempt to even the score.  Over the following weeks, the recruits see another side to Perry and he begins to earn their respect and support.  As the months pass, the men wonder whether they will ever see active service.  It comes soon enough...

The Way Ahead, one of the most popular of the war propaganda films made in Britain during WWII, offers a vivid and moving depiction of raw recruits experiencing their first taste of army life.  It features an ensemble cast of some of the finest British acting talent of the time and was directed with flair by Carol Reed, one of the most respected filmmakers of his generation.  After this, Reed would direct several highly regarded films, including The Fallen Idol (1948) and The Third Man (1949).

The film boasts some spectacular action scenes in its last two reels, sequences which, untypically for a propaganda film, convey something of the drama and horror of modern warfare.  But what is perhaps more impressive is the realistic way in which the conscripted soldiers are portrayed – not as the usual bland caricatures, but as ordinary men who are gradually transformed into an effective fighting unit.  This depth of characterisation and humanity are hard to find in a war film of this era, and this could explain why the film was so successful.  

The Way Ahead originated as a 40-minute training film, The New Lot (1943), which had been made by Reed whilst serving in the film unit of the British army.  The script was written by Eric Ambler and Peter Ustinov, who would both enjoy a prolific film career after the war, the former as a writer, the latter as an actor. So highly regarded was this film that Reed was asked to remake it as a full-length propaganda film, with the intention of boosting moral, both amongst personnel in the armed services and with the civilian population back home.  

The impeccable cast is headed by David Niven, appropriately given the role for which he is best remembered, the genteel but firm army officer who embodied most people’s idea of Britishness.  Peter Ustinov puts in an appearance as the unfortunate North African cafe owner, faking a not very convincing French accent.  Stanley Holloway provides light relief as the House of Commons boiler stoker with a seemingly insuperable disrespect for authority, whilst James Donald and Hugh Burden sympathetically and convincingly show the effect that army life has on the ordinary man in the street.

William Hartnell comes close to stealing the film in the role that would define and constrain his subsequent career, which would consist mainly of working class heavies: thugs, policemen and army types.  He would reprise the part of the uncompromising sergeant-major in Carry on Sergeant (1958) and in the popular BBC television series The Army Game (1958-1961), before finding enduring fame as the first Doctor Who in the mid-1960s.  Another familiar face is John Laurie, who would return to army life on the small screen in the classic BBC sitcom Dad’s Army (1968-1977).  Also watch out for Trevor Howard as he makes his fleeting screen debut; a year later, he would become one of the best-known actors in Britain, thanks to his starring role in David Lean’s Brief Encounter (1945).

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