Customer Reviews
OK - By: Alex da Silva, 28 Dec 2008 
Its a good film while you are watching it but I dont think it needs seeing again. David Niven breezes through the film & William Hartnell provides the best acting. Its a shame that there is no real feeling of anything once the film ends. A team of new recruits being trained & then put into a war situation - it could have been so much better with a different ending.
Fantastic propaganda - By: Mr. T. P. Kingston, 26 Jun 2008 
Great film. One can only imagine the frame of mind of those originally watching it during the war. Brilliantly avoids the trap of portraying characters as heroes, they're just normal flawed fellows... who you don't necessarily like, until they're the tight knit fighting unit we see at the end. Isn't propaganda clever?
David Niven is fantastic - a role model for every Englishman.
The rest of the cast are exceptional too. The last shots, soldiers advancing bravely through the smoke, was surely lifted for the opening credits of Dad's Army years later - & both featured the brilliant John Laurie.
One of the Greatest - By: Denis Smith, 25 Jan 2008 
This is one of the most affecting films I have ever seen, & makes me wonder how I could have passed so many years of life & never seen it before. It's difficult to pin down why it is so good - after all, to simply describe the bare bones of the plot would not make it sound anything special - but I think the sheer quality of the script is probably the most important thing. That is not, however, the only good thing about it: the direction, acting, & even the special effects are all exceptionally good. Above all, every characterin the story is so realistic, & interesting to the viewer. As for David Niven's performance, that is close to perfection. If I had to mention just one specific scene from the film, I think it would be that unforgettable moment when,in a run-down bar, somewherein the Western Sahara, the men start singing 'Lily of Laguna'. That must surely be one of the most memorable scenes ever put on celluloid. If that scene doesn't move you, nothing will. If, like me until a few weeks ago, you have never seen this film, buy it now, & experience a beautiful piece of cinematic history, madein England during the dark days of World War II.
A Classic - By: ray dorrity, 11 Jul 2007 This movie shows what can be done when talents such as Ustinov & Ambler are told to make an Army training film & they then managed to come up with a classic like this.
It's the story of a diverse bunch of Brits grumbling their way through basic training, being put through their paces by David Niven & William Hartnell (who played the first Dr. Who) with the ultimate resultin the end of being turned into a first rate fighting unit.
My favourite scene is the one just before the War starts, when David Niven as a T.A. private (that's a National Guardsmanin "cousin-speak"), is being instructedin the use of a 1916 Lewis Gun by means of a large picture - The real thing would not have been available, & then being turned out of the training hall by a Dance Band arriving!
I like nmollo's comments above about not having seen a Brit war film where we are not portrayed as "crazy & eccentric".
Well apart from Los Angeles, UK probably has had more crazy & eccentric people than any other place on earth. Why else would we have put up with the weather when we could have emmigrated to Australia, New Zealand, Canada or even the USA?
Great film. Worth watching over & over again.
Buy & enjoy
Great propaganda movie - By: Ms. L. R. Fisher, 29 Jun 2007 One of those with characters drawn from disparate backgrounds who end up pulling together. They spend the first half of the film whingeing about absolutely everything (they remind me of some colleagues I have known). How's Captain Niven going to cope with this management problem? He happens to turn up at the house where the "boys" have been going for tea & baths and, over the cucumber sandwiches, they discover he's a good chap really. I'd like to have seen more of the "wives' club". Niven is desperate to put on a concert but the platoon are initially too bolshy to play. A bit of an in-joke, as Stanley Holloway was a music-hall comedian famous for his recitations (the terrible fate of young Albert...) & eventually reveals his lovely singing voice as they croon Lily of Lagunain a godforsaken bar with Rommel not too far away. One of the most interesting characters is Evan Lloyd, the gloomy Welshman who unlike the others doesn't have much of a back story. Has he been soured by a life of telling people the council can't repair their gutters or install a bath? Of course, given the movie's origins as a training film, he could be there to show trainees that the unlikeliest recruits may be officer material. But with William Hartnell as Sergeant you can't go far wrong - he reprised this rolein Carry on Sergeant which is a more light-hearted go at the same plot (no war & nobody dies, but the end, with the gang marching past to brass instruments played by thick-legged girls, still makes me cry).
