First Light (2010)

First Light is a historical and biographical drama, which premiered on British television (BBC) in 2010. It is the story of a young man, who joined the RAF and became a Spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain. It is a true story; based on the memoirs of the young man. Here is some basic information about it:

** Director: Matthew Whiteman

** Writers: Matthew Whiteman and Caleb Ranson

** Based on Geoffrey Wellum’s memoirs First Light – written during the 1980s and published in 2002

** Run time: 1 hour and 19 minutes

The cast includes the following:

** Geoffrey “Geoff” Wellum as himself – age 89 – narrator

** Sam Heughan as Geoffrey Wellum (1921-2018) – age 18-19

** Tuppence Middleton as Grace Neil – Geoffrey’s girlfriend

** Richard Walsh as Percy Wellum – Geoffrey’s father

** Alex Robertson as John Wilfred “Tommy” Lund (1919-1941) - RAF pilot

** Ben Aldridge as Brian Kingcome (1917-1994) – RAF pilot – group captain

** Gary Lewis as Mac – flight mechanic – ground crew

This drama covers a period of sixteen months: the time from May 1940 to August 1941. It is a very personal account of the war. There are some battle scenes in the air. But there are also many scenes where we are on the ground. The movie-makers want to show us what the battles meant to the pilots and how it affected them.

What do reviewers say about this historical drama? On IMDb it has a rating of 70 per cent, which corresponds to 3.5 stars on Amazon. On Amazon UK there are more than 110 reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.6 stars.

If you ask me, the former rating is too low, while the latter rating is too high. Why? This movie is good, but not great. There are some flaws here and there. Let me explain:

# 1. It is rather short. It runs for only 1 hour and 19 minutes, including the credit rolls at the end. A feature movie should run for at least 90 minutes, preferably 100 minutes. Some feature movies run for 120 minutes.

# 2. It takes a while to find out who is who. The characters are not always introduced with their names. This problem can be solved by placing an on-screen message next to each character the first time he or she appears. Unfortunately, this was not done here.

# 3. The dialogue is not always easy to follow. Many actors speak very fast and they mumble. They do not speak clearly. This problem is more serious when we get to the battle scenes which take place in the air. Now the actors are wearing a mask and communicating via poor quality radio. Subtitles could have solved this problem. Unfortunately, there are no subtitles available for this movie.

I like this movie and I want to give it a good rating, but as you can see, there are some flaws here and there. I have to remove one star because of these flaws. Therefore I think it deserves a rating of four stars.

PS # 1. Director Matthew Whiteman explains how the battle scenes were created in the following post which is available online: “Dramatising the real Battle of Britain,” BBC TV Blog, 14 September 2010.

PS # 2. For more information about the Battle of Britain, see the following items:

** Spitfire Sisters (2010) – a documentary film about the female pilots who worked for British Air Transport Auxiliary during the war

** Spitfire (2018) – a documentary film about the famous fighter plane and its role during the war

PS # 3. The Battle of Britain is an important chapter of World War Two, but there are two definitions of how long it was. According to the British definition, it was from 10 July to 31 October 1940. According to the German definition, it was from July 1940 to June 1941.

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Back cover of the DVD box

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 Geoffrey Wellum in 2009

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Spitfire Sisters (2010)

Spitfire Sisters is a documentary film about the female pilots who worked for the British Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) during World War Two. Here is some basic information about this film which premiered in 2010:

** Directors: Tristan Loraine and Sandra Skibsted

** Writer: Tristan Loraine

** Narrators: Samantha Irving and Laven Maddox

** Run time: 50 minutes

Several persons were interviewed for the film, including some of the few female pilots who were still alive when the film was being made. Here are their names:

** Baroness Betty Boothroyd (born 1929) – a British politician - member of the House of Lords

** Margot Duhalde (1920-2018) – ATA pilot (from Chile)

** Mary Ellis (1917-2018) – ATA pilot

** Margaret Frost (1920-2014) – ATA pilot

** Annette Hill – ATA pilot

** Joy Lofthouse (1923-2017) – ATA pilot

** Yvonne MacDonald – ATA pilot

** Freydis Sharland (1920-2014) – ATA pilot

** Peter Garrod – ATA pilot

** Richard Poad – Maidenhead Heritage Centre - chairman

** Eric Viles – ATA chairman

ATA was a civilian organisation that worked with the Royal Air Force. ATA pilots transported new planes from factories to military airbases. More than 150 female pilots worked for ATA during the war.

Female pilots were not allowed to fly in combat. At first, they were only allowed to fly one or two types of planes. Eventually, they were allowed to fly almost any type of military plane. The most famous plane that they flew was the Spitfire. Hence the title of the film “Spitfire Sisters.”

What do reviewers say about it? On IMDb it has a rating of 85 per cent, which corresponds to 4.25 stars on Amazon. As you can see, this rating is quite good. But if you ask me, it is not good enough. I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars.

PS # 1. For more information about the Battle of Britain, see the following items:

** First Light (2010) – a movie about Spitfire pilot Geoffrey Wellum

** Spitfire (2018) – a documentary film about the famous plane and its role during the war

** Hurricane (2018) – a movie about the Polish pilots who joined the RAF and fought for Britain during the war

PS # 2. For more information about the female ATA pilots, see the following books:

** Spitfire Women of World War II by Giles Whittell (2007, 2008)

** Spitfire Girl: My Life in the Sky by Jackie Moggridge (2014)

** A Spitfire Girl by Mary Ellis as told to Melody Foreman (2016)

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Spitfire (2018)

Spitfire: Inspiration of a Nation is a documentary film about the famous fighter plane and its role during the Battle of Britain. Here is some basic information about this film which premiered in 2018:

** Directors: David Fairhead and Ant Palmer

** Narrator: Charles Dance

** Run time: 95 minutes

Several persons were interviewed for the film, including the following:

** Mary Ellis (1917-2018)

** Geoffrey “Geoff” Wellum (1921-2018)

MARY ELLIS was one of the female pilots who flew new Spitfires - and many other warplanes - from the factory to a military airbase during the war. She was a member of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA).

GEOFFREY WELLUM was a Spitfire pilot during the war. He was only 18 years old when he joined the RAF in May 1940, shortly before the Battle of Britain began. He was a member of Squadron 92.

What do reviewers say about this film? On IMDb it has a rating of 76 per cent, which corresponds to (almost) four stars on Amazon. On Amazon UK there are more than 100 reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.7 stars.

If you ask me, the latter rating is too high, while the former rating is quite appropriate. Why? Because this film has a flaw:

It is not always easy to hear what is being said. The words of the person who is speaking are often overwhelmed by background music or noise from an airplane or both.

When an airplane appears on the screen, I expect to hear some noise. There may also be some music. Nobody should talk during such a scene, because the words may well be drowned out by the noise.

When a person is speaking, there should be no music and certainly no noise in the background. Unfortunately, this simple rule is not followed in this case.

Subtitles might have helped with this problem, but unfortunately, there are no subtitles available for this film. Subtitles are absolutely essential for a viewer who is deaf or hard-of-hearing, but even a person who has good ears will have trouble with some scenes in this film.

I like this film about the Spitfire and I want to give it a good rating, but as you can see, there is a flaw, which cannot be ignored; which cannot be overlooked. I have to remove one star because of this flaw. Therefore I think it deserves a rating of four stars.

PS # 1. For more information, see the following books:

** First Light by Geoffrey “Geoff” Wellum (2002)

** Spitfire Women of World War II by Giles Whittell (2007, 2008)

** Spitfire Girl: My Life in the Sky by Jackie Moggridge (2014)

** A Spitfire Girl by Mary Ellis (as told to Melody Foreman) (2016)

PS # 2. For more information, see the following items:

** First Light (2010) – a movie based on Geoffrey Wellum’s book

** Spitfire Sisters (2010) – a documentary film about the female pilots who flew for the British ATA (“attagirls”)

** Hurricane (2018) – a movie about the Polish pilots who joined the RAF during the war and fought in the Battle of Britain

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