High Flight is a CinemaScope

CinemaScope

CinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...

 1957

1957 in film

The year 1957 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 21 - The movie Jailhouse Rock, starring Elvis Presley, opens.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue-Awards:...

 British cold

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

war

War film

War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...

 drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 directed by John Gilling

John Gilling

John Gilling was an English film director and screenwriter, born in London. He was chiefly known for his horror films, especially for Hammer Films, for whom he directed Shadow of the Cat , The Plague of the Zombies , The Reptile and The Mummy's Shroud, among others...

 and featuring Ray Milland

Ray Milland

Ray Milland was a Welsh actor and director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985, and he is best remembered for his Academy Award–winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend , a sophisticated leading man opposite a corrupt John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind , the murder-plotting...

, Bernard Lee

Bernard Lee

John Bernard Lee was an English actor, best known for his role as M in the first eleven James Bond films.-Life and career:...

 and Leslie Phillips

Leslie Phillips

Leslie Samuel Phillips, CBE is an English actor with a highly recognisable upper class accent. Originally known for his work as a comedy actor, Phillips subsequently made the transition to character roles.-Early life:...

 filmed at RAF Cranwell

RAF Cranwell

RAF Cranwell is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. It is currently commanded by Group Captain Dave Waddington...

.

Plot

A group of Flight Cadet

Flight Cadet

A flight cadet is a military or civilian occupational title that is held by someone who is in training to operate an airplane. The trainee does not need to become a pilot, as flight cadets may also learn to serve as a co-pilot, navigator, or flight engineer....

s arrive at RAF Cranwell to begin a three-year training course to become RAF pilots. Amongst the group is Tony Winchester (Kenneth Haigh) who makes a memorable entrance by landing his civilian aircraft with his girlfriend (Anne Aubrey

Anne Aubrey

Anne Aubrey is a British actress.She was mainly active in Warwick Films in the 1950s and 1960s, starring in the 1961 Vladimir Pogacic film Karolina Rijecka. For a time she worked closely with Anthony Newley...

) aboard on the RAF runway just ahead of a de Havilland Vampire

De Havilland Vampire

The de Havilland DH.100 Vampire was a British jet-engine fighter commissioned by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Following the Gloster Meteor, it was the second jet fighter to enter service with the RAF. Although it arrived too late to see combat during the war, the Vampire served...

 piloted by Wing Commander

Wing Commander (rank)

Wing commander is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries...

 Rudge (Ray Milland).

During the Second World War, Winchester's father had been Rudge's commanding officer and lost his life protecting Rudge who had disobeyed orders. Another member of the aspiring pilots is the scientific minded Roger Endicott (Anthony Newley) who is also determined to create a working flying saucer

Flying saucer

A flying saucer is a type of unidentified flying object sometimes believed to be of alien origin with a disc or saucer-shaped body, usually described as silver or metallic, occasionally reported as covered with running lights or surrounded with a glowing light, hovering or moving rapidly either...

. Endicott's flying radio controlled model develops difficulties as it literally crashes a Bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

's (Ian Fleming

Ian Fleming (actor)

Ian Fleming was an Australian born character actor with credits in over 100 British movies.He is perhaps best known for playing Dr. Watson in a series of Sherlock Holmes movies of the 1930s opposite Arthur Wontner's Holmes...

) tea party.

Winchester is a difficult individual who has ill feelings towards Rudge over his father's wartime death. He doesn't learn the meaning of team work until he accidentally flies into hostile territory in East Germany. These sequences featured Hawker Hunter

Hawker Hunter

The Hawker Hunter is a subsonic British jet aircraft developed in the 1950s. The single-seat Hunter entered service as a manoeuvrable fighter aircraft, and later operated in fighter-bomber and reconnaissance roles in numerous conflicts. Two-seat variants remained in use for training and secondary...

 aircraft flown by No. 43 Squadron RAF

No. 43 Squadron RAF

No. 43 Squadron was a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron originally formed in 1916 as part of the Royal Flying Corps. It last operated the Panavia Tornado F3 from RAF Leuchars, Scotland in the air defence role until disbanded in July 2009.-In World War I:...

 from RAF Leuchars

RAF Leuchars

RAF Leuchars is the most northerly air defence station in the United Kingdom. It is located in Leuchars, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland, near to the university town of St Andrews.-Operations:...

 in Scotland.

Cast

As appearing in screen credits (main roles identified):

Actor	Role
Ray Milland Ray Milland Ray Milland was a Welsh actor and director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985, and he is best remembered for his Academy Award–winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend , a sophisticated leading man opposite a corrupt John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind , the murder-plotting...	Wing Commander Rudge
Bernard Lee Bernard Lee John Bernard Lee was an English actor, best known for his role as M in the first eleven James Bond films.-Life and career:...	Flight Sergeant Harris
Kenneth Haigh Kenneth Haigh Kenneth Haigh is a British actor. He played the central role of Jimmy Porter in the very first production of John Osborne's seminal play Look Back in Anger in 1956. His performance in a 1958 Broadway theatre production of that play so moved one young woman in the audience that she mounted the...	Anthony 'Tony' Winchester
Anthony Newley Anthony Newley Anthony George Newley was an English actor, singer and songwriter. He enjoyed success as a performer in such diverse fields as rock and roll and stage and screen acting.-Early life:...	Cadet Roger Endicott
Kenneth Fortescue	John Fletcher
Sean Kelly	Cadet Day
Helen Cherry	Louise Dawson
Leslie Phillips Leslie Phillips Leslie Samuel Phillips, CBE is an English actor with a highly recognisable upper class accent. Originally known for his work as a comedy actor, Phillips subsequently made the transition to character roles.-Early life:...	Squadron Leader Blake
Duncan Lamont	Weapons Corporal
Kynaston Reeves	Air Minister
John Le Mesurier John Le Mesurier John Le Mesurier was a BAFTA Award-winning English actor. He is most famous for his role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the popular 1970s BBC comedy Dad's Army.-Career:...	Commandant
Jan Brooks	Diana
Frank Atkinson	Parker
Ian Fleming Ian Fleming (actor) Ian Fleming was an Australian born character actor with credits in over 100 British movies.He is perhaps best known for playing Dr. Watson in a series of Sherlock Holmes movies of the 1930s opposite Arthur Wontner's Holmes...	Bishop
Nancy Nevinson	Bishop's Wife

Production

Principal photography took place at RAF Cranwell, Cranwell, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom as well as RAF Station Leuchars in Fife, home base of No. 43 Squadron RAF

No. 43 Squadron RAF

No. 43 Squadron was a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron originally formed in 1916 as part of the Royal Flying Corps. It last operated the Panavia Tornado F3 from RAF Leuchars, Scotland in the air defence role until disbanded in July 2009.-In World War I:...

, standing in for RAF Station Wunsdorf in West Germany. The use of RAF jet training and operational Hawker Hunter

Hawker Hunter

The Hawker Hunter is a subsonic British jet aircraft developed in the 1950s. The single-seat Hunter entered service as a manoeuvrable fighter aircraft, and later operated in fighter-bomber and reconnaissance roles in numerous conflicts. Two-seat variants remained in use for training and secondary...

fighter aircraft heightened the authenticity of the film.

Reception

The film was poorly reviewed by film critics but a great success with film audiences, leading to a re-release in 1961.Later reviewers commented that the film was "... well written and acted. Lots of authentic jet flying sequences."

Reference

Notes

Bibliography

• Hardwick, Jack and Ed Schnepf. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies." The Making of the Great Aviation Films, General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989.
• Mackenzie, S.P. British War Films, 1939-1945: The Cinema and the Services. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2001. ISBN 978-1852855864.