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School for Secrets (1946) More at IMDbPro »


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Overview

User Rating:
6.5/10   41 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 7% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writer:
Peter Ustinov (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for Secret Flight on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
23 December 1946 (UK) more
Genre:
Plot:
Wartime tale of a group of British scientists efforts to develop the first radar system. They did it... more | add synopsis
User Reviews:
Ripping yarn with classy cast and director is an English post war gem more (3 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Ralph Richardson ... Prof. Heatherville
Raymond Huntley ... Prof. Laxton-Jones
John Laurie ... Dr. McVitie
Ernest Jay ... Dr. Dainty
David Tomlinson ... Mr. Watlington
Finlay Currie ... Sir Duncan Wills
Norman Webb ... Dr. Wainwright
Michael Hordern ... Lt. Cmdr. Lowther
Pamela Matthews ... Mrs. Watlington
Joan Haythorne ... Mrs. Laxton-Jones
Joan Young ... Mrs. McVitie
Ann Wilton ... Mrs. Dainty

Richard Attenborough ... Jack Arnold
David Hutcheson ... Squadron Leader Sowerby
Patrick Waddington ... Group Capt. Aspinall
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Secret Flight (USA)
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Runtime:
UK:108 min
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Recording)
Certification:
UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating)

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4 out of 4 people found the following review useful.
Ripping yarn with classy cast and director is an English post war gem, 8 September 1999
9/10
Author: hedgehog-13 from Adelaide, South Australia

This film, about how "boffins" contributed to the English war effort (by inventing airborne radar and other technological miracles), was made to help everyone cheer up and keep that upper lip stiff during the hard post-war recovery years.

The real delight in watching it from 50 years distance is in the acting, writing and direction. We have grown used to seeing the likes of Richardson, Huntley, Hordern, Attenborough, Laurie et al in "feature" roles (nay, on display as museum exhibits). Most of them are now gone, but when this film was made--at the hand of the incomparable Peter Ustinov--they were in their prime and they were playing main characters. It is a little like the days "when gods walked the earth".

The delight in this film is not in the plot (although it is a sobering reminder of just how much technology has moved this century) but in the language of the Ustinov script and in the effortless way that the principals go about their craft. I doubt that any of the four knighthoods given to director and cast were for this film, but one can see in it film why they achieved this recognition in the end.

"School for Secrets" remains, as I am sure it was always intended to be, a "jolly fine" cheer-up story.

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Full cast and crew Company credits IMDb Drama section
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