AKA:
Spitfire >> USA
Synopsis:
The First of the Few, (known as Spitfire in the United States), is a 1942
British film, starring and directed by Leslie Howard, and co-starring David
Niven. The film score was written by William Walton, the Spitfire Prelude
and Fugue.
It is a biography of R.J. Mitchell, the designer of the Supermarine Spitfire.
The film's title refers to the words of Winston Churchill who, when
speaking of the Battle of Britain aircrew said: "Never in the field of human
conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
Almost inevitably, because the film was made during the Second World
War and dealt with subjects related to the war, it was effectively
propaganda and consequently contained several inaccuracies:
* In the film Mitchell's exact illness is not mentioned. Mitchell had rectal
cancer and had a colostomy in 1933. However the film gave many people
the impression that he had tuberculosis.
* Mitchell did not work himself to death on the Spitfire, an impression
one could conceivably get from this film. He did make sacrifices for his
work despite the pain of his illness, and he did continue tweaking and
perfecting the Spitfire design up until his death, so this is more misleading
than inaccurate.
* Mitchell did not visit Germany and so never met Willy Messerschmitt.
The film shows that the trip convinced him to design the Spitfire.
The First of the Few was a British film produced and directed by Leslie
Howard, with Howard in the starring role of R.J. Mitchell. It tells the story
of Mitchell's life and how he developed the design for the famous RAF
fighter. David Niven plays his friend and test pilot Geoffrey Crisp, who
narrates the biography in flashback. Leslie Howard bore little
resemblance to R. J. Mitchell, however, as Mitchell was a large and
athletic man. Howard portrayed Mitchell as upper class and mildmannered.
Mitchell - "the Guv'nor" - was in fact working class and had an
explosive temper; apprentices were told to watch the colour of his neck
and to run if it turned red.
However, the film contains precious footage that would be otherwise be
lost to posterity:
* Film footage of the Supermarine S.4 in taking off from Southampton
Water, and in flight, which is now available nowhere else.
* Inter-war footage of aerobatic German sailplane flight, of a Grunau
Baby in flight, and a Lohning Lo. 100 pulling loop. Again, this is rare
footage and thus precious.
Leslie Howard's portrayal of Mitchell has a special significance since
Howard was killed when the transport aircraft in which he was a
passenger was shot down by the Luftwaffe one year after the film was
released.
