THE FEW ON SCREEN

Steven Taylor looks at the Battle of Britain across film and TV

- Steven Taylor

As arguably the most important clash between the allies and the Nazis in World War Two, and one that marked a genuine turning point in the great conflict, the Battle of Britain has naturally long attracted the interest of film-makers, from the 1940s right through to the present day. But while some productions dramatising the epic struggle in the summer of 1940, fought between the RAF and the Luftwaffe for air supremacy over southern England, have become enduring classics, others have swiftly fallen into obscurity.

Although touched upon in such wartime propaganda films as 1942's The First of the Few, which told the story of the struggle of the aircraft designer RJ Mitchell (played by Leslie Howard) to get his legendary Supermarine Spitfire fighter into production, audiences had to wait until the 1950s for the first films to properly dramatise the Battle of Britain.

Regarded as the golden age of the British World War Two film, that decade saw the release of two films set against the backdrop of the Battle of Britain that would become classics of the genre.

The first of these was 1952's Angels One Five, in which John Gregson starred as cocky young Hurricane pilot TB "Septic" Baird, whose overconfidence lands him in constant trouble with his tough, but fair, commanding officer, Group Captain "Tiger" Small (Jack Hawkins).

Four years later, the story of the most famous British pilot to emerge during the battle was told in Reach for the Sky. In a career-defining performance, Kenneth More portrayed Douglas Bader, the inspirational - if somewhat irascible airman who lost both his legs in a prewar flying accident but, with the aid of a pair of artificial limbs, went on to become one of the RAF's most successful aces of the Battle of Britain.