The Way to the Stars

Michael Redgrave - Flight Lieut. David Archdale
John Mills - Peter Penrose
Stanley Holloway - Mr. Palmer
Trevor Howard - Squadron Leader Sil Carter
Rosamund John - Toddy Todd
Felix Aylmer - Reverand Charles Moss
Renée Asherson - Iris Winterton
Basil Radford - Tiny Williams
Bonar Colleano - Joe Friselli
Joyce Carey - Miss Winterton
Jean Simmons - Singer
Bill Owen - Nobby Clarke

A film about the British and American air forces in Britain, The Way to the Stars, was based on a story written by Terence Rattigan and scripted by him and Anatole de Grunwald, who, as the producer, engaged Asquith to direct it. The original idea for the film came from a documentary film The Spirit of St Louis made by Willie Wyler – but Wyler’s documentary focused on the air crew, so when he returned to Hollywood along with the American writer, Anatole de Grunwald rescued the remaining material and set about making The Way to the Stars.

By the time everything was set in motion for shooting the film at an air base in Yorkshire it was apparent that the war was likely to be over before the film was shown. 'We eventually decided,' Terence Rattigan told me, 'to begin the picture with a shot of a bare derelict field and say on the sound track "This was an airfield", and flash back to the story of what really happened there.' Asquith, who also worked on the script, as directors do, made the camera wander over the derelict airfield, picking out the down-at-heel, empty living-quarters, the wash-houses with the fading scribbles on the walls, the empty buildings around, and the tom flapping posters on the walls. It was a brilliant touch and most effectively moving.

The time is 1942. Peter, a young RAF pilot, is sent to a station in the Midlands, where he becomes friendly with David, his squadron leader. David is married to 'Toddy', manageress of The Golden Lion, the squadron's favourite local inn. There Peter meets, and is attracted to, Iris Winterton, a London girl evacuated with her aunt. David is killed on operations, leaving his wife with a baby son. She is comforted by an American pilot, Johnny, party of a contingent that joins the air base. Peter, shaken by David's death, comes to believe that pilots should not marry and breaks off his affair with Iris. Johnny's friend, Joe, pursues Iris, but she is still in love with Peter.

Life at the station goes on. New operations continue. Men are killed, new faces arrive, young pilots are sent into the air, some of them never to return; eventually Johnny is killed and Peter, even more bitter, decides to tell Iris that love between them is impossible. Toddy, victim of the two losses, finally makes Peter see things in a different perspective. He and Iris are reunited. Around and above these personal incidents in the lives of members of the station's command is delineated the comradeship of English and Americans, which from mutual mistrust grows into, understanding and affection.
Excerpt© 'Puffin Asquith' by R.J. Minney.