There will be a propagandist's agenda behind any film made in and concerning WWII Britain but, where others use a shovel, 'Millions Like Us' lays it on with a velvet glove. It finds no need to make a hero of everyone in British uniform or to chest-thump over every patriotic act. Instead, it warms us to real and ordinary people – people like "us" in the factories, dance halls and Dad's Army – each playing his or her usually unremarked role during the siege of Britain.
Here is the writer/director pairing of Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder at its best. Their dialogue is wonderfully natural, and they allow their expert cast to play for authenticity, with only as much commotion and comedy as will keep us involved in their characters.
The evolution of Celia (the delightful Patricia Roc) is particular engaging: the mousy member of an otherwise colourful family becomes our romantic lead while changing believably and almost imperceptibly. With air gunner Fred (Gordon Jackson, wonderful as always) complementing her honesty and shyness, we find a couple about whom we soon care greatly. Any foreigner who would comprehend how Britons relate to each other need merely study Celia's "I don't mind" in answer to both to the most mundane questions and to the longed-for proposal of marriage: this is the level of nuance and understatement from which we come in only a couple of generations.
Bigger characters provide a light in which to notice how unassuming Celia and Fred matter to us. Jennifer (Anne Crawford) and Charlie (Eric Portman) play out a side-story, asking what role this war will have in breaking down the classes as the Great War had before it and, with strange prescience, it is the aspiring, salt-of-the-earth Charlie who will not commit to girl-about-town Jenny, foreshadowing the real-world Labour landslide two years later when the have-nots established themselves. While I could mention of any of the supporting players, I shall finish with the low-key comedy of Celia's father Jim (Moore Marriott) and the forever train-travelling double-act of Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne, keeping austere Britain from being sombre.
That this story of quite ordinary people turns out to be so compelling while still delivering to the propagandist's brief is a great tribute to all involved. (8.5/10)
Here is the writer/director pairing of Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder at its best. Their dialogue is wonderfully natural, and they allow their expert cast to play for authenticity, with only as much commotion and comedy as will keep us involved in their characters.
The evolution of Celia (the delightful Patricia Roc) is particular engaging: the mousy member of an otherwise colourful family becomes our romantic lead while changing believably and almost imperceptibly. With air gunner Fred (Gordon Jackson, wonderful as always) complementing her honesty and shyness, we find a couple about whom we soon care greatly. Any foreigner who would comprehend how Britons relate to each other need merely study Celia's "I don't mind" in answer to both to the most mundane questions and to the longed-for proposal of marriage: this is the level of nuance and understatement from which we come in only a couple of generations.
Bigger characters provide a light in which to notice how unassuming Celia and Fred matter to us. Jennifer (Anne Crawford) and Charlie (Eric Portman) play out a side-story, asking what role this war will have in breaking down the classes as the Great War had before it and, with strange prescience, it is the aspiring, salt-of-the-earth Charlie who will not commit to girl-about-town Jenny, foreshadowing the real-world Labour landslide two years later when the have-nots established themselves. While I could mention of any of the supporting players, I shall finish with the low-key comedy of Celia's father Jim (Moore Marriott) and the forever train-travelling double-act of Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne, keeping austere Britain from being sombre.
That this story of quite ordinary people turns out to be so compelling while still delivering to the propagandist's brief is a great tribute to all involved. (8.5/10)