The Way Ahead

The Way Ahead
Directed by	Carol Reed
Produced by	John Sutro Norman Walker
Written by	Eric Ambler Peter Ustinov
Starring	David Niven Stanley Holloway William Hartnell
Music by	William Alwyn
Cinematography	Guy Green
Editing by	Fergus McDonell
Distributed by	GFD
Release date(s)	1944
Running time	115 min. / 91 min. (USA)
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

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.

Plot

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.

Cast

• David Niven as Lieutenant Jim Perry
• Stanley Holloway as Private Ted Brewer
• James Donald as Private Evans Lloyd
• John Laurie as Private Luke
• Leslie Dwyer as Private Sid Beck
• Hugh Burden as Private Bill Parsons
• Jimmy Hanley as Private Geoffrey Stainer (as Jimmie Hanley)
• William Hartnell as Sergeant Ned Fletcher (as Billy Hartnell) (similar role in Carry On Sergeant and Private's Progress)
• Reginald Tate as The Training Company Commanding Officer
• Leo Genn as Captain Edwards
• John Ruddock as Old Chelsea Soldier
• A. Bromley Davenport as Old Chelsea Soldier (as Bromley Davenport)
• Renée Asherson as Marjorie Gillingham (as Renee Asherson)
• Mary Jerrold as Mrs. Gillingham
• Tessie O'Shea as Herself
• Raymond Lovell as Mr. Jackson
• A.E. Matthews as Colonel Walmsley
• Jack Watling as Sergeant Buster
• Peter Ustinov as Rispoli, cafe owner
• Lloyd Pearson as Sam Thyrtle
• Raymond Huntley as Private Herbert Davenport
• Penelope Dudley-Ward as Mrs. Perry (as Penelope Ward)
• Esma Cannon as Mrs. Ted Brewer
• Eileen Erskine as Mrs. Bill Parsons
• Grace Arnold as Mrs. Ned Fletcher

Hartnell, Holloway, and Ustinov also appeared in The Magic Box.

External links

• The Way Ahead at the Internet Movie Database
• The Way Ahead is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
• The Way Ahead at AllRovi
• The Way Ahead at screenonline