ianlouisiana Review of One of Our Aircraft Is Missing

One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942)

"Jaw,jaw" rather than "War,war".Talky propaganda film...................

[6/10 · 4 April 2009]

A bit of a Curate's Egg,this.A "Microcosm of Society" - type aircrew is shot down over Holland,contacts the Dutch Resistance and is guided safely back home.Now I understand it was made at a time when the British Government needed to ensure that we were all singing from the same hymn sheet and that Europeans(Brits weren't considered to be Europeans in those days)had to pull together to free the continent from the yoke of Nazism,but resistance to the Germans in Holland - like in France - was the exception rather than the rule,and these were lucky airmen indeed to have managed to contact members of such a very small and brave elite without disaster befalling them. Many Dutch and French were enthusiastically embracing Fascism right up until the Second Front opened. Mr Robert Helpmann as the collaborator would not have been quite the exotic creature he is made out to be. But my main concern about "One of our aircraft is missing" is the way the Dutch are portrayed as perky rosy-cheeked and chirpy,almost like members of the von Trapp family.And surely they wouldn't spend so much of their time together as a group right under the noses of The Master Race who might reasonably be expected to be a little suspicious of such gatherings. But considering the parameters within which it was made and the audience for whom it was intended,the film is capable enough,just a bit of a disappointment considering the talent involved and the high standard of many British propaganda works of the same era. The flying sequences are well handled but once the crew have parachuted and gone to ground,for me the tension is dissipated,when surely it should be increased. "Jaw,jaw",may be better then "War,war" as Churchill posited,but in "One of our aircraft is missing" it gets to be a bit of a "Bore,bore" I'm afraid.