Conflict of Wings | |
---|---|
![]() Original lobby card | |
Directed by | John Eldridge |
Written by | John Pudney Don Sharp |
Based on | Conflict of Wings by Don Sharp [1] |
Produced by | Herbert Mason |
Starring | John Gregson Muriel Pavlow Kieron Moore Niall MacGinnis |
Cinematography | Arthur Grant Moray Grant |
Edited by | Lito Carruthers |
Music by | Philip Green |
Production company | |
Distributed by | British Lion Films |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 84 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Conflict of Wings is a 1954 British comedy drama film directed by John Eldridge and starring John Gregson, Muriel Pavlow and Kieron Moore. [2] The film is based on a novel of the same title by Don Sharp who later became a noted director. [3] [4] Villagers in Norfolk rally to prevent the RAF from attempting to use an island for target practice.
It was a production of Group 3 Films with backing from the NFFC. Shooting took place at Beaconsfield Studios and on location in Norfolk. The film's sets were designed by the art director Ray Simm. It is one of the rare British aviation films that focused on the ground crew as opposed to aircrew. [5]
It was distributed by British Lion.
Conflict of Wings was released to cinemas in London on 30 March 1954. It was released later that year in the United States under the title Fuss Over Feathers. [6]
A small Norfolk village is outraged when it is discovered that the Ministry of Land Acquisition proposes to take over the nearby Island of Children, a bird sanctuary, for the RAF to use as a ground attack firing range. A struggle of wills begins between the authorities and the villagers, who resort to a variety of ways to prevent damage to the historic island. Harry Tilney is all for taking on the government, but his compatriot, Sally has a boyfriend stationed at the nearby Royal Air Force base, Corporal Bill Morris, so she goes to see him first.
Meanwhile, Squadron Leader Parsons is informed that his unit's mission is being changed to ground attack. The de Havilland Vampire jets have to be modified to mount rockets. Parsons is informed he will have three weeks for the conversion, then four weeks to get his men trained. His commanding officer is not at liberty to inform him that the unit will then be sent overseas, but he takes the hint.
The land acquisition is assigned to a bureaucrat, Mr. Wentworth, which is rather awkward for him, as he is a prominent member of a bird watching society. He comes to discuss the situation with Harry, but Harry is drunk and drives him away. The villagers then learn that fishing rights to the area were granted to the people by Henry VIII. "Soapy", the professional eel catcher, can squat on the land and use those rights to block the acquisition. However, Soapy receives a letter from the government stating that there is no evidence that such rights exist.
"Bookie" then discovers that the land was given to the Church by Henry VIII for assistance in quelling a rebellion. The villagers present this information to Parsons. He agrees to pass it along to the Government, but in the meantime he insists on continuing with the training.
In desperation, the local people take to their boats and sail to the island, to occupy the target area and prevent the first attack run. However, the field telephone wire is broken as they come ashore, meaning the RAF controller on the range cannot get a message through to have the flight cancelled. Low cloud cover conceals the site from the approaching aircraft, which commence their attack run, but fortunately the protestors are spotted by the leading aircraft and the attack is aborted just in time to avoid a disaster.
The near miss means that there will have to be an official inquiry, which will take months or a year, by which time the unit will have been sent to Malaya.
Conflict of Wings was based on a story by Don Sharp who had written a number of films for Group Three Productions. He pitched the idea for the film to Group Three, and wrote it up as a novel and as a screenplay. Sharp wrote the screenplay in collaboration with John Pudney. [7]
A reviewer from the Sydney Morning Herald described the novel as follows:
This reviewer's guess is that the story began as a film scenario, which could explain the precise, illustrative, uninspired style of the novel. Tasmanian-born Don Sharp has been in turn actor, broadcaster and film producer; and a background of that kind rarely favours the novel form. One sees its influence in sentences such as: "The villagers greeted Sally conventionally"-a playwright's note of guidance to a producer, rather than a novelist's picture of a scene ... Behind the quietly amusing account of this controversy [the storyline] is the larger question whether English tradition must bow before the needs of national security, and Don Sharp debates it with intelligent sympathy. But the novel suffers because his characters are wooden and shaped to convenient patterns. It is as if they require to be brought to life by good actors in one of those rural settings which English film producers contrive so well. [8]
Conflict of Wings was originally called The Norfolk Story, and under this working title, the film was shot at Beaconsfield Film Studios, on location in Norfolk and in East Yorkshire at the Central Gunnery School, RAF Leconfield. [10] [N 2]
The aircraft in the film included:
Conflict of Wings was re-titled for the American market as Fuss Over Feathers. [13] It was released in New York City on 26 December 1954.
In contemporary reviews of Conflict of Wings, the film generally received good reviews, and most of them were decidedly in favour of the RAF's position on the contretemps, and not so much the view of the villagers in protecting their bird sanctuary. "Virginia Graham of The Spectator (02/04/54) wrote: "People who appreciate the calm, embellished with a little bird song, deserve our sympathy, of course, but the times are changing and it is only in the shelter of aluminium wings that England can build its nest??. Good example of Anglo-Saxon pragmatism!" [12]
Aviation film historian Michael Paris in From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema (1995) described Conflict of Wings as reflecting the "international tensions of the 1950s". Paris goes on to describe how the threat to a natural sanctuary would "raise some interesting issues ..." especially when national defence was involved. [14]
Halliwell's Film & Video Guide described it as a "[sub]-Ealing comedy-drama with a highly predictable outcome; generally pleasant but without much bite." [15]
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the Second World War. Unusual in that its airframe was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or "Mossie". Lord Beaverbrook, Minister of Aircraft Production, nicknamed it "Freeman's Folly", alluding to Air Chief Marshal Sir Wilfrid Freeman, who defended Geoffrey de Havilland and his design concept against orders to scrap the project. In 1941, it was one of the fastest operational aircraft in the world.
Croydon Airport was the UK's only international airport during the interwar period. It opened in 1920, located near Croydon, then part of Surrey. Built in a Neoclassical style, it was developed as Britain's main airport, handling more cargo, mail, and passengers than any other UK airport at the time. Innovations at the site included the world's first air traffic control and the first airport terminal. During World War II the airport was named RAF Croydon as its role changed to that of a fighter airfield during the Battle of Britain; and in 1943 RAF Transport Command was founded at the site, which used the airport to transport thousands of troops into and out of Europe.
Ludham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk, in the Norfolk Broads, at the end of a dyke leading to Womack Water and flowing into the River Thurne. It lies 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the East of Ludham Bridge, which is on the River Ant. It covers an area of 12.18 km2 (4.70 sq mi) and had a population of 1,301 in 582 households at the 2001 census, the population reducing to 1,278 at the 2011 census. For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of North Norfolk.
The de Havilland DH.106 Comet is the world's first commercial jet airliner. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland in the United Kingdom, the Comet 1 prototype first flew in 1949. It features an aerodynamically clean design with four de Havilland Ghost turbojet engines buried in the wing roots, a pressurised cabin, and large windows. For the era, it offered a relatively quiet, comfortable passenger cabin and was commercially promising at its debut in 1952.
The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome Edgware on the outskirts of north London. Operations were later moved to Hatfield in Hertfordshire.
The de Havilland Vampire is a British jet fighter which was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the RAF, after the Gloster Meteor, and the first to be powered by a single jet engine.
The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. In addition to the type's principal use for ab initio training, the Second World War had RAF Tiger Moths operating in other capacities, including maritime surveillance and defensive anti-invasion preparations; some aircraft were even outfitted to function as armed light bombers.
Number 23 Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force responsible for 'day-to-day space operations', having been reformed in January 2021, as the first "space squadron". Up until its disbandment in October 2009, it operated the Boeing Sentry AEW1 Airborne Warning And Control System (AWACS) aircraft from RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire.
The de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide is a 1930s short-haul biplane airliner developed and produced by British aircraft company de Havilland. Capable of accommodating 6–8 passengers, it proved an economical and durable craft, despite its outdated plywood construction.
Harold Thomas Gregson, known professionally as John Gregson, was an English actor of stage, television and film, with 40 credited film roles. He was best known for his crime drama and comedy roles.
Donald Herman Sharp was an Australian film director.
The Devil-Ship Pirates is a 1964 British pirate adventure film directed by Don Sharp.
It’s in the Air is a 1938 British comedy film written and directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring George Formby, Polly Ward and Jack Hobbs. The film was released in the United States with the alternative title George Takes the Air in 1940. The film depicts Great Britain's preparations for war with Air Raid Warden training, mock air attacks dropping poison gas bombs, and the deployment of anti-aircraft weapons in the streets.
The de Havilland DH.104 Dove is a British short-haul airliner developed and manufactured by de Havilland. The design, which was a monoplane successor to the pre-war Dragon Rapide biplane, came about from the Brabazon Committee report which, amongst other aircraft types, called for a British-designed short-haul feeder for airlines.
Malta Story is a 1953 British war film, directed by Brian Desmond Hurst, which is set during the air defence of Malta during the Siege of Malta in the Second World War. The film uses real and unique footage of the locations at which the battles were fought and includes a love story between an RAF reconnaissance pilot and a Maltese woman, as well as the anticipated execution of her brother, caught as an Italian spy. The pilot's character is loosely based on Adrian Warburton, and the Maltese woman's brother's is based on Carmelo Borg Pisani, who was executed in 1942.
Henry James Fowler, MBE was an English character actor in film and television. Over a career lasting more than six decades, he made nearly 200 appearances on screen.
William Reginald Beckwith was an English film and television actor, who made over one hundred film and television appearances in his career. He died of a heart attack aged 56.
Muriel Lilian Pavlow was an English actress. Her mother was French and her father Russian.
Group 3 Films was a short lived British film production company that operated from 1951 to 1955.