Reach For The Sky (1956/VCI Rank Collection DVD)

 

Picture: C-     Sound: C-     Extras: C-     Film: C

 

 

Douglas Bader (Kenneth More) is a hot shot Air Force pilot, but after a terrible airplane accident in 1931, he is left without his legs.  Determined to fly again, he shows that even without his legs he can still fly with the best.  After months of painful rehabilitation, he gets his chance to prove himself in the war, becomes an inspiration to pilots and becomes a wing commander and becomes a leader and symbol of a true American pilot that never says never in Lewis Gilbert’s Reach For The Sky (1956).

 

Bader was a hot shot pilot show-off before the accident and WWII gets him involved in the fight against the Axis Powers in the air.  Feeling vain and proud, he feels he must always prove to others he is the best despite his near death accident while showing off aero acrobatics.  Finding himself grounded, he soon gets one more chance to prove he is still the man before his crash with new flight tactics; he leads his squadron to victory with bold and new formations.  

 

You could tell this film was made to celebrate the WWII effort as were many Rank releases, based on a novel and true story of Douglas Baxter, the story is about a young man who becomes handicapped, but through living learning from his mistakes, determination and effort he show that he can fly and help the war effort despite his injury.  The film was made to show how even wounded pilots cans stand and fight the enemy and for those who are on the homefront to continue to support the troops and has a great filmmaker like Gilbert at the helm.

 

The 1.85 X 1 black and white picture and lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono are cleaned up, but the performance of the film and the film itself only did so much for me, so this is only for those interested in planes and ware films.  Extras include trailer and photo gallery.

 

 

-   Ricky Chiang