Review of Reach For The Sky

Introduction

Reach For The Sky is one of those classic British movies from the fifties, that you may have seen one rainy Saturday afternoon if you don`t like sport. Kenneth More was extremely popular at this time, and went on to star in the excellent `A Night To Remember`. This film, some would say the best Titanic film yet made, and Reach For The Sky are probably the two movies that More will be remembered for.

The film portrays the true story of Douglas Bader, an airman who is severely injured in an tragic aeroplane accident and who loses both legs as a consequence. The story follows his recuperation and his fight to get back to as close a normal life as possible. And for Bader his dream is to reach for the sky once again, and fly!

The Second World War arrives and Bader rises through the ranks to lead five squadrons of Spitfires per mission. There is plenty of air to air combat in this film, with footage from the actual war, and is very entertaining given the age of the film. Finally he is taken as a prisoner of war.

Video

Having been made in 1956, the film is obviously black and white.

We get a 16:9 anamorphic presentation here, and is the first time I have seen the movie in widescreen glory, the TV versions being pan and scan. There are 20 chapters stops on the disc.

A good source print has been dug up for this DVD but there are still lots of evidence of the age of the film. There are several obvious clicks and pops on screen, but generally these are few and far between.

Audio

Dolby Digital Mono in all its stunning glory!

Features

As seems to be a trend with the Carton range of DVDs, the menus are nicely animated. The three films I have reviewed from this range (the others being A Night To Remember and Carry On Camping) all feature the same style of menus with a small animated portion of the screen showing scenes from the film (with no sound) and simple selections on a purple background.

The DVD provides some biographies of the stars and you get the original theatrical trailer. It is always interesting to see a trailer for a film of this age (almost 50 years old!) and nostalgia reigns true.

The extras are not quite up to the standard of the excellent DVD of A Night To Remember, which includes a full hour long documentary on the making of the film that was actually made only four years ago, but the trailer and biogs are better than nothing.

Conclusion

Fans of this film will want to add this DVD to their collection. Prospective purchasers are likely to be those that know and love the film itself rather than those buying on impulse.

Carlton have to be commended for bringing this old movie to DVD, which may after all have a limited market. The DVD is also reasonably priced too, and the film itself is
a historic piece of British cinema - one of the classic Pinewood Studios movies that entertained the world.

Hopefully this title and A Night To Remember will encourage the film companies to bring all the older classic movies onto DVD.