''The Lion Has Wings'' is a 1939 British,

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

, documentary-style,

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

that was directed by

Adrian Brunel Adrian Brunel (4 September 1892 – 18 February 1958) was an English film director and screenwriter. Brunel's directorial career started in the silent era, and reached its peak in the latter half of the 1920s. His surviving work from the 1920s, ...

Brian Desmond Hurst Brian Desmond Hurst (12 February 1895 – 26 September 1986) was a Belfast-born film director. With over thirty films in his filmography, Hurst has been hailed as Northern Ireland's best film director.Screening will honour 'NI's best film ...

Alexander Korda Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; hu, Korda Sándor; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956)Michael Powell Michael Latham Powell (30 September 1905 – 19 February 1990) was an English filmmaker, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. Through their production company The Archers, they together wrote, produced and directed a seri ...

. The film was produced by

London Film Productions London Films Productions is a British film and television production company founded in 1932 by Alexander Korda and from 1936 based at Denham Film Studios in Buckinghamshire, near London. The company's productions included ''The Private Life o ...

and Alexander Korda Film Productions and 'was preparing the nation (for war) and shining a light on the power of the RAF'. ''The Lion Has Wings'' was made at the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and was released to cinemas very quickly. It helped convince the British government of film's value for disseminating both propaganda and information.

Plot

''The Lion Has Wings'' is recounted in various 'chapters' with a linking story revolving around a senior

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

(RAF) officer, played by

Ralph Richardson Sir Ralph David Richardson (19 December 1902 – 10 October 1983) was an English actor who, with John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, was one of the trinity of male actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. He w ...

, his wife and his family. The film opens with a

newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, inform ...

-style documentary comparing life in Britain to life in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, narrated by E.V.H. Emmett in the upbeat and patriotic narrative style common to such newsreels in Britain. This mainly uses existing newsreel footage with some additional footage shot especially for the film. It includes scenes from '' Fire Over England'' with

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

giving her speech to the troops at

Tilbury Tilbury is a port town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. The present town was established as separate settlement in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of Chadwell St Mary. It contains a 16th century fort and an anc ...

about repelling invaders. It also compares the relaxed lifestyles and openness of the British Royal Family and the British people with the militarism of Nazi Germany by including footage from the Nazi propaganda documentary ''

Triumph of the Will ''Triumph of the Will'' (german: Triumph des Willens) is a 1935 German Nazi propaganda film directed, produced, edited and co-written by Leni Riefenstahl. Adolf Hitler commissioned the film and served as an unofficial executive producer; hi ...

'' (). The second chapter shows an early bombing raid on German

warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster ...

s in the

Kiel Canal The Kiel Canal (german: Nord-Ostsee-Kanal, literally "North- oEast alticSea canal", formerly known as the ) is a long freshwater canal in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The canal was finished in 1895, but later widened, and links the N ...

. Although it was mainly recreated in the studio, and with special effects, it also includes some footage of the real bombers and their crews returning from the raid. The third chapter shows an attack by

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German '' Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the '' Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabt ...

bombers, and how it is repelled by the RAF, with assistance from the Observer Corps and

barrage balloon A barrage balloon is a large uncrewed tethered balloon used to defend ground targets against aircraft attack, by raising aloft steel cables which pose a severe collision risk to aircraft, making the attacker's approach more difficult. Early barra ...

s. The epilogue has Mr. and Mrs. Richardson taking a break from their duties, enjoying an afternoon by the river. She gives a stirring speech about how the women of Britain have in the past given their sons and lovers to the land and to the sea, and must now give them to the air. They will do so willingly to defend all that is fair and kind about the British way of life. But Wing Commander Richardson is so tired he falls asleep part way through her speech.

Cast

* Merle Oberon as Mrs. Richardson *

as Wing Commander Richardson * June Duprez as June * Flora Robson as

(Footage taken from '' Fire Over England'') * Robert Douglas as Briefing officer *

Anthony Bushell Anthony Arnatt Bushell (19 May 1904 – 2 April 1997) was an English film actor and director who appeared in more than 50 films between 1929 and 1961. He played Colonel Breen in the BBC serial ''Quatermass and the Pit'' (1958–59), and al ...

as Pilot *

Brian Worth Brian Worth (30 July 1914 – 25 August 1978) was an English actor, known for '' Scrooge'' (1951), ''The Man in the White Suit'' (1951) and ''An Inspector Calls'' (1954). He died on 25 August 1978 aged 64. Educated in Britain and America, ...

as Bobby *

Austin Trevor Claude Austin Trevor Schilsky (7 October 1897 – 22 January 1978) was an Irish actor who had a long career in film and television. He played the parson in John Galsworthy's ''Escape'' at the world premiere in London's West End in 1926 an ...

as Schulemburg * Ivan Brandt as officer * G. H. Mulcaster as Controller * Herbert Lomas as Holveg *

Milton Rosmer Milton Rosmer (4 November 1881 – 7 December 1971) was a British actor, film director and screenwriter. He made his screen debut in '' The Mystery of a Hansom Cab'' (1915) and continued to act in theatre, film and television until 1956. I ...

as Head of Observer Corps *

Ronald Adam General Sir Ronald Forbes Adam, 2nd Baronet, (30 October 1885 – 26 December 1982) was a senior British Army officer. He had an important influence on the conduct of the British Army during the Second World War as a result of his long tenure ...

as Bomber Chief * Robert Rendel as Chief of Air Staff * Archibald Batty as Air Officer *

Derrick De Marney Derrick Raoul Edouard Alfred De Marney (21 September 1906 – 18 February 1978) was an English stage and film actor and producer, of French and Irish ancestry. Actor The son of Violet Eileen Concanen and Arthur De Marney, and the grandson of ...

as Bill *

Bernard Miles Bernard James Miles, Baron Miles, CBE (27 September 190714 June 1991) was an English character actor, writer and director. He opened the Mermaid Theatre in London in 1959, the first new theatre that opened in the City of London since the 17th ce ...

as Observer Controller *

E. V. H. Emmett Edward Victor Henry Emmett, known as E. V. H. Emmett (17 June 1902, London - 7 June 1971, London), was a British newsreader. Though his main job was as a commentator for Gaumont British News, he was frequently used as a narrator for films from ...

as Narrator, UK ''(voice)'' *

Lowell Thomas Lowell Jackson Thomas (April 6, 1892 – August 29, 1981) was an American writer, actor, broadcaster, and traveler, best remembered for publicising T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). He was also involved in promoting the Cinerama widescree ...

as Narrator, US ''(voice)''

Production

At the outbreak of war, there were fears that all film production would be halted and cinemas closed, as they were during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

Alexander Korda Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; hu, Korda Sándor; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956)Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

, and was very aware of current events. As soon as war was declared, Korda pulled staff from other productions to fulfill his promise to Churchill that he would have a feature propaganda film ready within one month of the outbreak of war. Since ''The Lion Has Wings'' was made before the attacks on Britain had begun, the film had to rely on existing

stock footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stoc ...

, including sequences lifted from the air raid featurette, ''The Gap''. Contemporary aircraft, many of which were obsolete by 1939, are a noticeable jarring element. The footage of a German bomber taking off is actually a German airliner ( Focke-Wulf Fw 200); at least, it has the correct markings, but most of the

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a ...

aircraft featured in the RAF air show were obsolete fighters. The addition of footage that was shot at operational bases,

RAF Hornchurch Royal Air Force Hornchurch or RAF Hornchurch is a former Royal Air Force Royal Air Force station, sector station in the parish of Hornchurch, Essex (now the London Borough of Havering in Greater London), located to the southeast of Romford. The a ...

, Hornchurch, Essex, and

RAF Mildenhall Royal Air Force Mildenhall or RAF Mildenhall is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located near Mildenhall in Suffolk, England. Despite its status as a Royal Air Force station, it primarily supports United States Air Force (USAF) operations, ...

, Suffolk, England, combined with studio work at Denham Studio, Denham, Buckinghamshire, UK, lent an air of authenticity to the production. To ensure rapid progress, the film had three directors, and was shot simultaneously in various locations. Michael Powell was assigned the task of recreating the RAF bomber raids, and his taut and well-structured section stands up the best, while Brian Desmond Hurst's sequences include Merle Oberon and Ralph Richardson which brought 'the undoubted stardust he managed to sprinkle with the help of his leading actors' which helped fill the cinemas. Adrian Brunel, the last of the three credited directors, was responsible for the spy and 'crisis' scenes. Powell later remarked that the project was 'all shop-made, edited, and directed in less than a month'.Powell 1986, p. 335.

Reception

The speed of production and the multiple directors shows in the final result, but it is an effective 'message' film. It was all shot in 12 days, and completed in about four weeks, at a cost of just £30,000, a notable achievement in those times. Within days of its release, copies had been shipped to 60 countries. Although it is difficult to determine its actual impact on the public, ''The Lion Has Wings'' was considered a significant factor in persuading the British government to allow the film industry to continue to work, and the film was regarded as a model of how filmmakers could be an asset to the war effort. Like many propaganda films, ''The Lion Has Wings'' does not tell the whole truth, but there are many elements of truth in it. The use of

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, Marine radar, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor v ...

as a defensive measure was not mentioned, since it was still a secret. However, the bombing raids were shown first being reported by spies then confirmed by the Observer Corps, a tactic that was actually occurring as part of Britain's defensive measures. The film also shows

bombers trying to attack London, but being completely turned back by

s, which in reality had little effect on the raids. The use of RAF fighters intercepting and attacking enemy bombers at night was not feasible at that point. These errors or misinterpretations added to other lofty claims that Britain had sufficient aircraft in production and was quite ready to fight to counter the overwhelming numbers of Luftwaffe raiders; all purposeful exaggerations were intended to bolster morale. Public reaction was generally reserved, as British audiences saw ''The Lion Has Wings'' as patently simplistic and patronising; yet, it was a commercial success. Powell later derided the project as 'an outrageous piece of propaganda, full of half-truths and half-lies, with some stagey episodes which were rather embarrassing and with actual facts which were highly distorted...' Author of ''

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich ''The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany'' is a book by American journalist William L. Shirer in which the author chronicles the rise and fall of Nazi Germany from the birth of Adolf Hitler in 1889 to the end of World W ...

'',

William Shirer William Lawrence Shirer (; February 23, 1904 – December 28, 1993) was an American journalist and war correspondent. He wrote ''The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich'', a history of Nazi Germany that has been read by many and cited in scholarly ...

recounts in his

Berlin Diary ''Berlin Diary'' ("The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent 1934–1941") is a first-hand account of the rise of Nazi Germany and its road to war, as witnessed by the American journalist William L. Shirer. Shirer covered Germany for several years ...

on 10 June 1940 that he thought the film 'very bad, supercilious, and silly'. He was shown the film at the German Propaganda ministry while working as a CBS Radio news reporter.

Home video

This film is available on DVD from:
DD Home Entertainment
coded for Region 2 (UK & Europe)
Magna Pacific
coded for Region 4 (Australasia)

as an extra included on their release of '' The Thief of Bagdad'' coded for Region 1.

Books

''Theirs is the Glory: Arnhem, Hurst and Conflict on Film'' takes Hurst's Battle of Arnhem epic as its centrepiece and then chronicles Hurst's life and experiences during the First World War and profiles each of his other nine films on conflict, including ''The Lion Has Wings''.. Publisher Helion and Company and co-authored by David Truesdale and Allan Esler Smith and a foreword by Sir Roger Moore. Available here: http://www.helion.co.uk/new-and-forthcoming-titles/theirs-is-the-glory-arnhem-hurst-and-conflict-on-film.html

References

Notes Bibliography * Aldgate, Anthony and Jeffrey Richards. ''Britain Can Take it: British Cinema in the Second World War''. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2nd Edition. 1994. . * Barr, Charles, ed. ''All Our Yesterdays: 90 Years of British Cinema''. London: British Film Institute, 1986. . * Dolan, Edward F. Jr. ''Hollywood Goes to War''. London: Bison Books, 1985. . * Hardwick, Jack and Ed Schnepf. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies". ''The Making of the Great Aviation Films'', General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989. * Johnston, John and Nick Carter. ''Strong by Night: History and Memories of No. 149 (East India) Squadron Royal Air Force, 1918/19 – 1937/56''. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 2002. . * Murphy, Robert. ''British Cinema and the Second World War''. London: Continuum, 2000. . * Michael Powell. ''A Life in Movies''. London: Heinemann, 1986. . * David Truesdale and Allan Esler Smith. '' Theirs is the Glory. Arnhem, Hurst and Conflict on Film'' Helion and Company, 2016.

External links

* *
''The Lion Has Wings''
reviews and articles at th
Powell & Pressburger Pages
* * * – full synopsis and film stills (and clips viewable from UK libraries)
www.briandesmondhurst.org
– official legacy website of the co-director with filmography including ''The Lion Has Wings'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Lion Has Wings, The 1939 films 1930s English-language films British aviation films Films shot at Denham Film Studios London Films films British black-and-white films Battle of Britain films British World War II propaganda films Films by Powell and Pressburger Films directed by Adrian Brunel Films directed by Brian Desmond Hurst Films directed by Alexander Korda Films directed by Michael Powell Films produced by Alexander Korda Films scored by Richard Addinsell 1930s war films British World War II films 1930s British films