Aces High

Aces High

By

  • Genre: Action, Drama, War
  • Release Date: 1976-05-19
  • Runtime: 114 minutes
  • : 5.772
  • Production Company: Les Productions Jacques Roitfeld
  • Production Country: France, United Kingdom
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5.772/10
5.772
From 68 Ratings

Description

The first World War is in its third year and aerial combat above the Western Front is consuming the nation's favored children at an appalling rate. By early 1917, the average life-span of a British pilot is less than a fortnight. Such losses place a fearsome strain on Gresham, commanding officer of the squadron. Aces High recreates the early days of the Royal Flying Corps with some magnificently staged aerial battles, and sensitive direction presents a moving portrayal of the futilities of war.

Trailer

Reviews

  • CinemaSerf

    7
    By CinemaSerf
    Perhaps because many of the cast here all look so very young, this film has an extra potency as a depiction of some of the inexperienced fliers who fought in the Great War. It all centres around the young "Crawford" (Simon Ward) who joins a squadron commanded by "Gresham" (Malcolm McDowell) and his adjutant "Sinclair" (Christopher Plummer). Green in the extreme, he finds himself fighting for his life every time he is airborne, and he must also balance the increasingly delicate needs of his commander who must deal, on a daily basis, with the mounting death toll amongst his Royal Flying Corps airmen. Jack Gold manages to capture well the sense of foreboding and the nerve-end existence of these youngsters as well as offering us some spectacular aerial photography and combat scenes that give us an authentic looking experience of just how perilous their lives were and just how flimsy their aircraft were, too. McDowell overacts a bit, almost as much as Plummer under-delivers - neither here quite hit the spot, but Ward and Peter Firth's "Croft" do, and their efforts are convincing. Time hasn't really been so kind to this production, but forty years later it still offers a plausible glimpse into the dangers in the lives of young men who had barely learnt to shave. No, it's not the "Blue Max" (1966) but it isn't a bad attempt at telling a similar story.

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