The Way Ahead (1944) [War] [Drama]

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“The Way Ahead” is a British Second World War drama released in 1944. It stars David Niven and Stanley Holloway and follows a group of civilians who are conscripted into the British Army to fight in North Africa. In the U.S., an edited version was released as “The Immortal Battalion”. The film was written by Eric Ambler and Peter Ustinov and directed by Carol Reed. The three had originally produced the 1943 training film “The New Lot”, which was produced for the Army Kinematograph Service. “The Way Ahead” was an expanded remake of their earlier film, this time intended for a commercial audience. The two films featured some of the same actors, including John Laurie, Raymond Huntley and Peter Ustinov.

In the days after the Dunkirk evacuation in Second World War, Lieutenant Jim Perry (David Niven), a veteran of the British Expeditionary Force, is posted to the Duke of Glendon’s Light Infantry to train replacements to fill its depleted ranks. A patient, mild-mannered officer, he does his strenuous best to turn the bunch of grumbling ex-civilians into soldiers, earning himself their intense dislike. Eventually however, the men come to respect their officer.

After their training is completed, their battalion is shipped out to North Africa to face Rommel’s Afrika Korps. However, their ship is torpedoed en route, and they miss the fighting. They are assigned to guard a small town. Perry appropriates a cafe as his headquarters, much to the disgust of the pacifist owner, Rispoli (Peter Ustinov). When the Germans attack, Perry and his men fiercely defend their positions, aided by Rispoli. The last scene shows them advancing in a counter-attack. Instead of the film ending with the words “The End”, it concludes with the more uplifting “The Beginning”, an attempt to galvanize support for the final push in the war effort. The final scene of the advancing soldiers was also copied for the closing credits of the long-running sitcom Dad’s Army; John Laurie appeared in both and his performance in the sitcom credits mirrors this film.

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Directed by Carol Reed, produced by John Sutro and Norman Walker, written by Eric Ambler and Peter Ustinov, starring David Niven, Stanley Holloway and William Hartnell.

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Source: “The Way Ahead” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 21 June 2012. Web. 3 August 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_Ahead.

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38 Replies to “The Way Ahead (1944) [War] [Drama]”

  1. I'm interested to watch this. My father talked very little about his war experience but he was commanding a Bren gun unit somewhere along the north shore of Africa quite early in the war …after sailing in around Gibraltar as an aid connected to a diplomatic mission before Cyprus was surrendered. Dad was one of 26 of the less than 150 or so who survived the forced march to Tripoli after their bunch of a larger force got trapped and overrun. He then came close to starving to death through about two years in a POW camp in central Italy …until the Italian jailers left the gates open on a morning a day or more before they expected the retreating Germans to g through in a rather bad mood.
    After an all too brief period to recuperate ..after getting back to England ..he was put to work as staff in charge of barracks for new boys headed for Berlin …until near the last of them were gone.

  5. Amazing film sir dave,sir stan,sir trevor and that jockfrom dads army and you are right davey was a hero as was douglas fairbanks jr who was anglophile and fought on mtbs

  9. The misogyny and sexism of the 1940s. Wicked. I can relate to the prejudice about The Pollocks though. My dad and uncle entertained the troops. They were part of The Navy Show that travelled with convoys. They had a huge band/orchestra!

  12. This is one of the best WWII flicks I've ever watched! Excellent plot, good character development (lots of famous actors, too), top-notch cinematography (for its time). To the curator: "Thanks very much for uploading this gem!"

  13. A V-E–R-Y good movie, thanks for uploading it! Considering the date it was done, it has very little of the "hate the enemy" you find in american movies. Regards

  15. Asked how he felt about serving with the British Army in Europe, Niven allegedly said, "Well on the whole, I would rather be tickling Ginger Rogers' tits."

  16. I will hand it to the Brits they held out againist the German War Machine from 1939 to 1942 when another War Machine entered the war……America….

  21. A fine film, one of the many remarkable WWII movies the British made. Interesting to see the young Peter Ustinov, and that he was co-writer on it too. Thanks for posting.

  22. This movie will be dedicated to Oliver North, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Oliver Stone: Lubovic "Natural Born Killers"Lubovic "Natural Born Killers" Screenplay snippets, reprise of July 23, 2016:
    "Jack, there's something we need to talk about.  Jackie is not at Udo's.  She's at that homeless shelter on skid row again." FBI agent Clarice Starling as played by Jody Foster to Jack Mraz
    "What? What is it? Did you say that you got me my crack pipe back from that little nigger John Mraz or that bitch Sam Fagan? Did you get my crack pipe back from that little nigger John or that bitch Sam?" Jack Mraz to FBI agent Clarice Starling as played by Jody Foster
    "No, Jack.  It's Jackie.  She's at a homeless shelter again.  And she keeps calling 211 in Los Angeles.  Before she went to the shelter she talked to 211 about being dog fucked.  It's very embarrassing for the FBI and the CIA, Jack.  As you know, we all listen to those calls of hers a lot.  She also talked about 211 in Los Angeles having nothing in the way of shelter for a former first lady.  So she remembers that she was married to an Obama the first time that one was president.  She sounded like she remembers what happened to their kids too.  As for 'dog fucked,' we don't know if she meant by you or by an Obama Lubovic.  We don't know.  Do you know?" FBI agent Clarice Starling as played by Jody Foster to Jack Mraz
    "God damn it.  Are they playing those tapes of me raping her in the White House when she was  First Lady in Europe on the Hungarian porn channels without charging again? I want some of that dough.  Go get it!" Jack Mraz to FBI agent Clarice Starling as played by Jody Foster
    "Jack, the problem is that this coming Labor Day weekend is drop dead day.  That's only like three weeks away.  And in the mean time, Udo is arguing with her constantly.  He is always screaming and throwing what sounds like furniture to the neighbors. The last chance scenario is that Udo takes out his dentures on Labor Day and also gets out a cold can of Sprite and starts to sip it while he calls 911 after he goes completely ballistic.  He has had three hit and runs over the course of the past month and a half.  And he is battering Jackie constantly the way that Sue Griffiths, his therapist, has taught him. Jack, Jack, what are you thinking about, Jack? FBI agent Clarice Starling as played by Jody Foster to Jack Mraz
    "Well, I'm not getting any  younger. And neither are you, Clarice."   Jack Mraz to FBI agent Clarice Starling as played by Jody Foster
    ————————————–
    Lubovic "Natural Born Killers" Screenplay snippets, Monday, July 25, 2016
    "Jack, there's something big that we need to talk about.  Jackie is not just not at Udo's this time.  She's not even at that homeless shelter on Skid Row in L.A.  where they did that Mormon Baptist thing called blood release that we didn't get to do a lot of at Fort Dix when I was training to be able to keep up with criminals like you. She left for Denver to try to get in a homeless shelter when the Democrats were having part of their fake Hillary Clinton 2016 installation.  She drove out on a Greyhound within hours because there were no shelters and rode through a bunch of really dirty yellow and orange cake uranium.  They were blasting it all over the place because of the fake Democratic convention.  When she got to a bathroom that was supposed to be in Ohio, but was really in Kentucky, she did what she did ten years and also twenty years ago when this stuff happened.  She played Ku Klux Klan tag the right way with  some fake Klan FBI tagger; and then she peed a bunch of uranium into the water supply of Northern Kentucky.  When she next got to Philadelphia where the Democrats are staging a two week installation drag review, she announced at a hospital what they had done with the dirty nukes in Colorado as she was on the Greyhound bus; she also announced online that the Mongols were in the jam at the Reading Terminal Market; she spotted a few false flags; and she did that thing that she does where she compares Joe Wilson to Flip Wilson.  You know–the American ambassador married to outted CIA agent Valerie Pflame–the one who said that there was no yellow cake uranium in Iraq in 2002; and, therefore, that Bush shouldn't invade." FBI agent Clarice Starling as played by Jody Foster to Jack Mraz
    "What? What is it? Did you say that Jackie is in Philadelphia? Is that why Nelson Munroe Casstevens and Frank and De (Helen) Aycock are turning into slayers with us here in Philadelphia? Is that why? Is that why the Aycocks are going slayer Jew?" Jack Mraz to FBI agent Clarice Starling as played by Jody Foster
    "Jack, it's more serious than that.  While you got your axe on your dick good and hard, as you like to put it, last night doing all of those Lizzy Borden rituals that you like, Jackie was walking around downtown Philadelphia and hoping that Homeless Outreach would pick her up on Market St. and Thirteenth.  Today, in fact, they sent out fake FEMA to try to get her there.  They were acting like Homeless Outreach, but were not. Jackie ruined a huge big false flag by getting on a pay phone and dialing 911 because she couldn't get through to 211 for shelter.  She mentioned that she wasn't in an emergency or she would have contacted the SWAT Team vehicle that just did a U-turn in front of her or something like that.  It's too much for me, Jack.  I just can't take it.  And on a 311 call that was supposed to be a 211 call that 911 hooked her up on, she actually said something very psychic without mentioning Hillary Clinton's name.  She said that she was sure that there were many politicians in the U.S.A. who would rather just kill homeless people than clean up U.S. poverty.  She mentioned the convention." FBI agent Clarice Starling as played by Jody Foster to Jack Mraz
    "What the fuck? I''m so sick and tired of hearing that she isn't a choker.  THAT CUNT." Jack Mraz to FBI agent Clarice Starling as played by Jody Foster

  23. An excellent film but most of the actors are old enough to be in the Home Guard and too old for front line combat troops. The front lines were manned by young men 18-25 years old. They were the cannon fodder.

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  30. Good action movie. Personally, I don't think Sgt. Fletcher had it against any of the men in his
    platoon — he just wanted to make them the best fighting unit which he did. And they saved his life on the transport ship. Great ending.

  31. Can somebody explain to me what a hell these British were fighting for as nobody endangered their Empire ? Or were they just bored at home and did not know how to spend their time usefully ?

  35. One of the best British WWII films ever made, filled to brimming with a wealth of British character players doing their bit to inspire and invoke. Cinephiles will recognise many faces here, including "Billy" Hartnell, who would go on to become the first Doctor Who. The film is dramatic, funny, revelatory, funny, instructive, funny, exciting, funny, scary-funny and ultimately inspiring in its depiction of ordinary Brit's caught up in the machinery of the war against nazism. Niven had to take leave from his military duty to make this film, and may have regretted the diversion from physically fighting nazi assholes, but with this film he made a classic.

  37. I think the way these Allied war films portrayed themselves are bogus propoganda. The Soviets were the main effective force that destroyed the German army.

  38. Interesting that Niven was a real war hero. And did not talk about it. Much like Jimmy Stewart. And how different from John Wayne whose only war was make believe, yet dummies think he was a hero.

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