Aces High is a 1976 war film directed by Jack Gold, starring Malcolm McDowell, Peter Firth, Christopher Plummer and Simon Ward. An Anglo-French production, the film is based on the 1928 play Journey's End by R. C. Sherriff, with additional material from fighter ace Cecil Lewis's memoir, Sagittarius Rising. The screenplay was written by Howard Barker.

Aces High turns the First World War trench warfare of Journey's End into the aerial battles fought in 1917 by the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) above the Western Front. The film covers a week of a squadron where the high death rate puts an enormous strain on the surviving pilots. Many characters and plot lines are loosely based on those of Journey's End: the idealistic new officer who is killed at the end, and whose sister is the girlfriend of his tough but alcoholic commanding officer, the kindly middle-aged second-in-command (known as "Uncle" by the younger officers) who is killed on a dangerous intelligence-gathering mission ordered by the top brass, and the officer whose claims of neuralgia are taken to be cowardice.

Plot

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In October 1916, fighter ace John Gresham speaks to the senior class at Eton College, which includes Stephen Croft. Gresham had been his house captain at Eton and is his older sister's boyfriend. To Croft he is a hero to be emulated.

A year later, 2nd Lt. Croft, after much careful arranging and maneuvering, arrives as a replacement at the base in northern France where Gresham is commanding officer. Seeing the excitement the young man has about flying with his hero, Captain "Uncle" Sinclair tells Croft he might find Gresham "changed".

Gresham is conflicted about having a younger man worship him as a hero, for he relies on alcohol to continue being a flying ace – which is something that Croft might report to his older sister back home. In a series of trials by fire, Gresham initiates Croft into the fighter pilot world, shooting down a German fighter on the younger pilot's tail. When Croft writes of his admiration for this heroic feat in a letter to his sister, Gresham waylays the letter, purportedly so he can censor it. Not able to bring himself actually to open the letter, Sinclair reads it to him.

When Sinclair is killed in a photography mission that Croft piloted, Gresham arranges to have him lose his virginity to a young French woman (prostitute) in Amiens. When Croft sneaks back to town the next night to be with her, she is chatting with a French colonel and ignores him.

By the end of the week, Croft shoots down his first plane. He is then suddenly killed in an air-to-air collision with a German aircraft. Back at base, Gresham struggles to write a letter to Croft's older sister, informing her of his death. When the next hopeful group of young replacement pilots enters his office for his review, he sees an apparition of an uninjured, smiling Croft through his office window. After the image fades, Gresham notes the dirtiness of the window to Bennett, before ordering the replacement pilots to grab their gear.

Cast

Names for the equivalent characters in Journey's End are included below in parentheses.

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Production

Development

The idea for the film came from producer Benny Fisz, who had served in the RAF in the Second World War and made such movies as The Battle of Britain. He pitched the idea of remaking Journey's End with an air force background to British director Jack Gold, who had just made The Naked Civil Servant. Although initially wary of it being an aviation film, Gold agreed after Howard Barker revised the screenplay. "What interests me is human relationships," said Gold. "Aces High has aerial battle scenes but they're not just thrown in. It has songs but they're not just cue music. They do tell something about the characters."

The movie was co-financed by EMI Films. According to editor Anne Coates, Gold "didn't particularly want McDowell" but the actor had been cast by Benjamin Fisz before Gold joined the project. Malcolm McDowell recalls a highlight was when Douglas Bader visited the set.

The production paid close attention to authenticity with First World War–era equipment being used throughout the film such as the airfield facilities, barracks and motor transport. The squadron depicted (known as 76 Squadron) is loosely based on 56 Squadron, which flew the S.E.5 that regained Allied air superiority in mid-1917. Some scenes are based on real RFC stories, such as pilots choosing between jumping to their deaths or burning alive in their aircraft (as they were not issued parachutes). The juvenile mess room songs and young pilots "public school" attitudes capture the fatalistic attitudes of the time, when the life expectancy of a new pilot could be measured in weeks.

Aerial sequences

thumb|S.E.5a (200 h.p. geared [[Hispano-Suiza with 4-bladed propeller) of No. 56 Squadron RAF]]

Although the film reused some aerial sequences from The Blue Max (1966) and Von Richthofen and Brown (1971), the producers shot their own flight scenes. All British S.E.5s were heavily modified Stampe SV.4s, a Belgian two-seat trainer that first flew in the 1930s. Sinclair's plane was a period Avro 504.