The Way to the Stars (1945)

AKA: Johnny in the Clouds

Director: Anthony Asquith

Writers: Terence Rattigan, Anatole de Grunwald, Richard Sherman

Composers: Nicholas Brodszky, Charles Williams

Starring: Michael Redgrave, John Mills, Rosamund John, Douglass Montgomery, Renee Asherson, Stanley Holloway, Basil Radford, Felix Aylmer, Bonar Colleano, Joyce Carey, Trevor Howard, Jean Simmons, Anthony Dawson

More info: IMDb

Tagline: THRILLS IN THE SKY!  And romance below...

Plot: Life on a British bomber base, and the surrounding towns, from the opening days of the Battle of Britain, to the arrival of the Americans, who join in the bomber offensive. The film centres around Pilot Officer Peter Penrose, fresh out of a training unit, who joins the squadron, and quickly discovers about life during war time. He falls for Iris, a young girl who lives at the local hotel, but he becomes disillusioned about marriage, when the squadron commander dies in a raid, and leaves his wife, the hotel manageress, with a young son to bring up. As the war progresses, Penross comes to terms that he has survived, while others have been killed.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

If you like your WWII pictures on the romance-y, dramatic side then maybe you'll dig this one more than I did.  It's OK I guess but I couldn't get into it.  The performances are good and the pacing moves along moderately.  It's never really boring but it never seemed to get interesting or exciting.  Keep looking if you were wanting any kind of war action.  There's nothing and that hurts a little as this is all about the RAF and bombing raids.  I can't remember even seeing the inside of a plane.  I can easily see forgetting everything about this film in less than a week because it was that bland, which is weird because it's a well-shot and made film.