Generally, a very poor movie, even by the standard applied to propaganda films during World War Two. Lieutenant Jim Perry (played by David Niven) is the only character to be substantial enough in a dramatic sense to be acceptable. Niven is able to portray a character who makes the transition from a confused and unsure officer to a courageous and respected leader. The other characters are cliche soldiers with cliche women saying cliche goodbyes in cliche settings spouting cliche dialogue. The conclusion of the film is so improbable as to belie the claim made that the infantry is composed of highly skilled men in a modern army. In addition, the movie is constructed of disconnected scenes strung together in a somewhat logical but usually incoherent sequence. Most of the scenes are simply too short to allow for the full development of the central idea of the action of a particular scene. There are exceptions, especially the action aboard ship during transport with the explosion of magazines, a very dramatic movie event. But such scenes are few. It is unfortunate that an idea as crucial as the worth of citizen armies in warfare is treated so badly by filmmakers. Thanks to the acting of David Niven the film is still worth watching, at least once. One final word on what seems to be an amazing coincidence. This movie was released on June 6, 1944, D-Day!
Review of The Way Ahead
