The Way Ahead

David Niven heads the cast in this engagingly quirky tale that amusingly and poignantly depicts just how the British Army managed to fight during WWII. He is the officer in charge of a collection of men of all ages and from many different backgrounds as they are slowly, but surely, coaxed, cajoled and bullied into a fighting unit that has cohesion, loyalty and friendship. Their training regime would test the best of us, and is carried out with a decent smattering of whinging and groaning, but also with strong senses of humour and of purpose before they are eventually deployed overseas and meet up with bar-owner Peter Ustinov in North Africa as the rout of Rommel's Nazi forces nears it's completion. This has a solid cast - Raymond Huntley, Stanley Holloway, John Laurie, Sam Kidd and Leo Genn to name but a few of the characters who give this much more depth than many of the more propagandist efforts made in the UK (and the USA) during the latter stages of the War. Carol Reed and Eric Ambler have created a great story that showcases perseverance and courage as well as quite a considerable degree of humanity.