Aces High is a 1976 British war film directed by Jack Gold and starring Malcolm McDowell, Christopher Plummer and Simon Ward. The screenplay was written by Howard Barker. As acknowledged in the opening credits, the film is based on the 1930s play Journey's End by R. C. Sherriff and the memoir Sagittarius Rising by Cecil Lewis of the Royal Flying Corps. It tells the story of an RFC squadron in the First World War and the high turnover of pilots an...
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Aces High is a 1976 British war film directed by Jack Gold and starring Malcolm McDowell, Christopher Plummer and Simon Ward. The screenplay was written by Howard Barker. As acknowledged in the opening credits, the film is based on the 1930s play Journey's End by R. C. Sherriff and the memoir Sagittarius Rising by Cecil Lewis of the Royal Flying Corps. It tells the story of an RFC squadron in the First World War and the high turnover of pilots and the strain on the survivors and includes aerial dogfight scenes.
The film follows the plot of Journey's End quite closely, albeit set in the RFC rather than in an infantry battalion.
The film is set in a one-week timeframe. It opens with fighter ace Major Gresham (McDowell) speaking to a class of students at Eton school in October 1916. One year later, a single new recruit shows up at Gresham's base, 2nd Lt. Croft (Firth). At Eton, Gresham was his house captain. Moreover, Croft is the younger brother of his girlfriend. Gresham already relies...
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