The Lion Has Wings is a 1939 British, black-and-white

Black-and-white

Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...

, documentary-style

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

, propaganda

Propaganda film

The term propaganda can be defined as the ability to produce and spread fertile messages that, once sown, will germinate in large human cultures.” However, in the 20th century, a “new” propaganda emerged, which revolved around political organizations and their need to communicate messages that...

, war film

War film

War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...

. The film was directed

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

 by Adrian Brunel

Adrian Brunel

Adrian Brunel was an English film director and screenwriter. Brunel's directorial career started in the silent era, and reached its peak in the latter half of the 1920s...

, Brian Desmond Hurst

Brian Desmond Hurst

thumb|right|200px|Portrait by [[Allan Warren]]Brian Desmond Hurst was a Belfast-born film director. Responsible for over 30 movies as director, Hurst was Ireland's most prolific movie director during the 20th century.-Early life:Hurst was born Hans Hurst in Ribble Street, East Belfast"". into a...

, Alexander Korda

Alexander Korda

Sir Alexander Korda was a Hungarian-born British producer and film director. He was a leading figure in the British film industry, the founder of London Films and the owner of British Lion Films, a film distributing company.-Life and career:The elder brother of filmmakers Zoltán Korda and Vincent...

 and Michael Powell

Michael Powell (director)

Michael Latham Powell was a renowned English film director, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger...

. It was produced

Film producer

A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...

 by London Film Productions and Alexander Korda Film Productions.

The film was made at the outbreak of the Second World War, released to cinemas very quickly and helped convince the government of the value of film in both, the propaganda battle and the dissemination of information.

Plot

The Lion Has Wings is recounted in various "chapters" with a linking story revolving around a senior Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 (RAF) officer, played by Ralph Richardson

Ralph Richardson

Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....

, his wife and his family.

The film opens with a newsreel

Newsreel

A newsreel was a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest. It was a source of news, current affairs and entertainment for millions of moviegoers...

 style documentary comparing life in Britain to life in Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

, narrated by E.V.H. Emmett

E.V.H. Emmett

E.V.H. Emmett was a British newsreader. Though his main job was as a commentator for Gaumont British News, he was frequently used as a narrator in the films of the 1930s, 40s and 50s...

 in the upbeat and patriotic narrative style common to such newsreels in Britain. This mainly uses existing newsreel footage with some additional footage shot especially for this film. It includes scenes from Fire Over England

Fire Over England

Fire Over England is a 1937 London Film Productions film drama, notable for providing the first pairing of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. It was directed by William K. Howard and written by Clemence Dane from the novel Fire Over England by A. E. W. Mason. Leigh's performance in the movie...

with Queen Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

 giving her speech to the troops at Tilbury

Tilbury

Tilbury is a town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. As a settlement it is of relatively recent existence, although it has important historical connections, being the location of a 16th century fort and an ancient cross-river ferry...

 about repelling invaders. It also compares the relaxed lifestyles and openness of the British Royal Family

British Royal Family

The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...

 and the British people with the militarism of Nazi Germany by including footage from Triumph of the Will

Triumph of the Will

Triumph of the Will is a propaganda film made by Leni Riefenstahl. It chronicles the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg, which was attended by more than 700,000 Nazi supporters. The film contains excerpts from speeches given by various Nazi leaders at the Congress, including portions of...

.

The second chapter shows an early bombing raid on German warship

Warship

A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...

s in the Kiel Canal

Kiel Canal

The Kiel Canal , known as the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal until 1948, is a long canal in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.The canal links the North Sea at Brunsbüttel to the Baltic Sea at Kiel-Holtenau. An average of is saved by using the Kiel Canal instead of going around the Jutland Peninsula....

. Although it was mainly recreated in the studio and with special effects, it also includes some footage of the real bombers and their crews returning from the raid.

The third chapter shows an attack by Luftwaffe

Luftwaffe

Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....

 bombers and how it is repelled by the RAF, with assistance from the Observer Corps

Royal Observer Corps

The Royal Observer Corps was a civil defence organisation operating in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 December 1995, when the Corps' civilian volunteers were stood down....

 and the barrage balloon

Barrage balloon

A barrage balloon is a large balloon tethered with metal cables, used to defend against low-level aircraft attack by damaging the aircraft on collision with the cables, or at least making the attacker's approach more difficult. Some versions carried small explosive charges that would be pulled up...

s.

The epilogue has Mr. and Mrs. Richardson taking a break from their duties, enjoying an afternoon by the river. She gives a stirring speech about how the women of Britain have in the past given their sons and lovers to the land and to the sea and must now give them to the air. But they will do so willingly to defend all that is fair and kind about the British way of life. But Wing Commander Richardson is so tired he falls asleep part way through her speech.

Cast

As appearing in screen credits (main roles identified):

Actor	Role
Merle Oberon Merle Oberon Merle Oberon was an Indian-born British actress best known for her screen performances in The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Cowboy and the Lady . She began her film career in British films as Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII . She travelled to the United States to make films for Samuel...	Mrs. Richardson
Ralph Richardson Ralph Richardson Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....	Wing Commander Richardson
June Duprez June Duprez June Duprez was an English film actress.The daughter of American vaudeville performer Fred Duprez, she was born in Teddington, Middlesex, England, during an air raid in the final months of World War I....	June
Flora Robson Flora Robson Dame Flora McKenzie Robson DBE was an English actress, renowned as a character actress, who played roles ranging from queens to villainesses.-Early life:...	Queen Elizabeth I (edited from Fire Over England Fire Over England Fire Over England is a 1937 London Film Productions film drama, notable for providing the first pairing of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. It was directed by William K. Howard and written by Clemence Dane from the novel Fire Over England by A. E. W. Mason. Leigh's performance in the movie... ) (archival footage)
Robert Douglas Robert Douglas (actor) Robert Douglas was born as Robert Douglas Finlayson in Fenny Stratford, Buckinghamshire. He was a successful stage and film actor, a television director and producer....	Briefing officer
Anthony Bushell Anthony Bushell Anthony Bushell was an English film actor and director, who appeared in 56 films between 1929 and 1961. He also appeared on and directed various British TV series such as Danger Man.-Early life:...	Pilot
Brian Worth Brian Worth (actor) - Selected filmography :- External links :...	Bobby
Austin Trevor Austin Trevor Austin Trevor was a Belfast born actor who had a long career in British films and television.He was the first actor to play Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot on screen in three British films during the early 1930s: Alibi , Black Coffee and Lord Edgware Dies...	Schulemburg
Ivan Brandt	Officer
G.H. Mulcaster G.H. Mulcaster G.H. Mulcaster was a British actor. He was the father of the actor Michael Mulcaster.-Selected filmography:* Mist in the Valley * The Squire of Long Hadley * A Girl of London * The Wonderful Wooing...	Controller
Herbert Lomas Herbert Lomas (actor) Herbet Lomas was a British actor who appeared in more than forty films in a career lasting between 1931 and 1955. He was born in Burnley, Lancashire in 1887 and made his first screen appearance in the 1931 film Hobson's Choice.-Filmography:...	Holveg
Milton Rosmer Milton Rosmer Milton Rosmer was a British actor, film director and screenwriter. He was born in Southport, Lancashire on 4 November 1881. He made his screen debut in the 1916 film The Mystery of a Hansom Cab and continued to act in film and television until 1956...	Head of Observer Corps
Ronald Shiner Ronald Shiner Ronald Alfred Shiner was a British stand-up comedian and comedic actor whose career encompassed film, West End theatre and music hall.-Career:...	a minor role (uncredited)
Ronald Adam Ronald Adam (actor) Ronald Adam OBE , born Ronald George Hinings Adams, was a British RAF officer, an actor on stage and screen and a successful theatre manager.-Early life:...	Bomber Chief
Robert Rendel Robert Rendel -Selected filmography:* Her Night of Romance * The Hound of the Baskervilles * Borrow a Million * The Price of Wisdom * Fire Over England * The Dark Stairway * The Lion Has Wings...	Chief of Air Staff
John Longden John Longden John Longden was a West Indian-born English film actor. He appeared in 84 films between 1926 and 1964, including five films directed by Alfred Hitchcock.-Biography:...	Unnamed character
Archibald Batty	Air Officer
Ian Fleming Ian Fleming (actor) Ian Fleming was an Australian born character actor with credits in over 100 British movies.He is perhaps best known for playing Dr. Watson in a series of Sherlock Holmes movies of the 1930s opposite Arthur Wontner's Holmes...	Unnamed character
Charles Carson Charles Carson (actor) -Selected filmography:* The Loves of Ariane * Dreyfus * Many Waters * Marry Me * The Chinese Puzzle * Monsieur Albert * Men of Tomorrow * Leap Year...	Unnamed character
John Penrose John Penrose (actor) John Penrose was a British actor.His best known role was in the 1949 film Kind Hearts and Coronets, where he played Lionel, Sibylla's dull husband whom Louis was accused of murdering. He also appeared in The Lion Has Wings , Freedom Radio and The Secret People .-External links:...	Unnamed character
Frank Tickle	Unnamed character
John Robinson John Robinson (actor) John Robinson was an English actor, who was particularly active in the theatre. Mostly cast in minor and supporting roles in film and television, he is best remembered for being the second actor to play the famous television science-fiction role of Professor Bernard Quatermass, in the 1955 BBC...	Unnamed character
Derrick De Marney Derrick De Marney Derrick De Marney was an English stage and film actor and producer, of French and Irish ancestry.-Actor:On the London stage from 1922 and films from 1928...	Bill
Carl Jaffe Carl Jaffe Carl Jaffe was a German Jewish actor. Jaffe trained on the stage in his native Hamburg, Kassel and Wiesbaden before moving to Berlin, where his career took off....	Unnamed character
Gerald Case Gerald Case -Selected filmography:* Museum Mystery * The Lion Has Wings * In Which We Serve * Jean's Plan * Night Boat to Dublin * Horrors of the Black Museum * Vampyres * The Elephant Man...	Unnamed character
Torin Thatcher Torin Thatcher Torin Thatcher was an English actor born in Bombay, British India, India), to English parents. He was an imposing, powerfully built figure noted for his flashy portrayals of screen villains....	Unnamed character
Bernard Miles Bernard Miles Bernard James Miles, Baron Miles, CBE was an English character actor, writer and director. He opened the Mermaid Theatre in London in 1959, the first new theatre opened in the City of London since the 17th century....	Observer Controller
E.V.H. Emmett E.V.H. Emmett E.V.H. Emmett was a British newsreader. Though his main job was as a commentator for Gaumont British News, he was frequently used as a narrator in the films of the 1930s, 40s and 50s...	Narrator, UK version (voice)
Lowell Thomas Lowell Thomas Lowell Jackson Thomas was an American writer, broadcaster, and traveler, best known as the man who made Lawrence of Arabia famous...	Narrator, US version (voice)

Production

At the outbreak of war, there were fears that all film production would be halted and cinemas closed, as they were in the First World War. Alexander Korda

Alexander Korda

Sir Alexander Korda was a Hungarian-born British producer and film director. He was a leading figure in the British film industry, the founder of London Films and the owner of British Lion Films, a film distributing company.-Life and career:The elder brother of filmmakers Zoltán Korda and Vincent...

 was close friends with Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

 and was very aware of current events. As soon as war was declared, Korda pulled staff from other productions to fulfill his promise to Churchill that he would have a feature propaganda film ready within one month of the outbreak of war.

Since The Lion Has Wings was made before the attacks on Britain had begun, the film had to rely on existing "stock" footage including sequences lifted from the air raid featurette, The Gap. Contemporary aircraft, many of which were obsolete by 1939, are a noticeable jarring element. The footage of a German bomber taking off is actually a German airliner (Focke-Wulf Fw 200

Focke-Wulf Fw 200

The Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor, also known as Kurier to the Allies was a German all-metal four-engine monoplane originally developed by Focke-Wulf as a long-range airliner...

); at least it has the correct markings but most of the aircraft featured in the RAF air show were antiquated biplane

Biplane

A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two superimposed main wings. The Wright brothers' Wright Flyer used a biplane design, as did most aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage, it produces more drag than a similar monoplane wing...

 fighters. The addition of footage that was shot at operational bases, RAF Hornchurch

RAF Hornchurch

RAF Hornchurch was an airfield in the south of Hornchurch in what is now the London Borough of Havering. Known as Sutton's Farm during the First World War, it occupied of the farm of the same name and was situated east north-east of Charing Cross...

, Hornchurch, Essex and RAF Mildenhall

RAF Mildenhall

RAF Mildenhall is a Royal Air Force station located at Mildenhall in Suffolk, England. Despite its status as an RAF station, it primarily supports United States Air Force operations and is currently the home of the 100th Air Refueling Wing...

, Suffolk, England combined with studio work at Denham Studio, Denham, Buckinghamshire, UK, lent an air of authenticity to the production.

In order to ensure rapid progress, the film had three directors and was shot simultaneously in various locations. Michael Powell was assigned the task of recreating the RAF bomber raids and his taut and well-structured section stands up the best, while Brian Desmond Hurst's sequence with Merle Oberon and Ralph Richardson received the most criticism as being forced and obvious. Adrian Brunel, the last of the three credited directors, was responsible for the spy and "crisis" scenes. Powell later remarked that the project was "all shop-made, edited and directed in less than a month."

Reception

The speed of production and the multiple directors shows in the final result, "it's not the most elegant of films", but it is an effective "message" film. It was all shot in 12 days and completed in about four weeks at a cost of just £30,000, a notable achievement in the times. Within days of its release, copies had been shipped to 60 countries. Although it's difficult to determine its actual impact on the public, The Lion Has Wings was considered a significant factor in persuading the British government to allow the film industry to continue to work, and the film was regarded as a model of how filmmakers could be an asset to the war effort.

Like many propaganda films, The Lion Has Wings doesn't tell the whole truth, but there are many elements of truth in it. The use of radar

Radar

Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...

 as a defensive measure was not mentioned since it was still a secret. However, the bombing raids were shown first being reported by spies then confirmed by the Observer Corps, a tactic that was actually occurring as part of the defensive measures. The film also shows Luftwaffe

Luftwaffe

Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....

 bombers trying to attack London but being completely turned back by barrage balloon

Barrage balloon

A barrage balloon is a large balloon tethered with metal cables, used to defend against low-level aircraft attack by damaging the aircraft on collision with the cables, or at least making the attacker's approach more difficult. Some versions carried small explosive charges that would be pulled up...

s which in reality had little effect on the raids. The use of RAF fighters intercepting and attacking enemy bombers at night was not feasible at that point. These errors or misinterpretations added to other lofty claims that Britain had sufficient aircraft in production and was quite ready to fight to counter the overwhelming numbers of Luftwaffe raiders; all purposeful exaggerations intended to bolster morale.

Public reaction was generally reserved, as British audiences saw The Lion Has Wings as patently simplistic and patronizing, yet it was a commercial success. Powell later derided the project as "an outrageous piece of propaganda, full of half-truths and half-lies, with some stagey episodes which were rather embarrassing and with actual facts which were highly distorted..."

Author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is a 1960 non-fiction book by William L. Shirer chronicling the general history of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945...

, William Shirer recounts in his Berlin Diary

Berlin Diary

Berlin Diary is a first-hand account of the rise of the Third Reich and its road to war, as witnessed by the American journalist William L. Shirer...

 on 10 June 1940 that he thought the film "very bad, supercilious and silly". He was shown the film at the German Propaganda ministry while working as a CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 Radio news reporter.

DVD versions

This film is available on DVD from:

• DD Home Entertainment coded for Region 2 (UK & Europe)
• Magna Pacific coded for Region 4 (Australasia)
• Criterion as an extra included on their release of The Thief of Bagdad
  The Thief of Bagdad (1940 film)
  The Thief of Bagdad is a 1940 British fantasy film produced by Alexander Korda, and directed by Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger, and Tim Whelan, with contributions by Korda's brothers Vincent and Zoltán, and William Cameron Menzies...
  
  coded for Region 1.

External links

• The Lion Has Wings reviews and articles at the Powell & Pressburger Pages. Full synopsis and film stills (and clips viewable from UK libraries).
• www.briandesmondhurst.org - official legacy website of the co-director with filmography including The Lion Has Wings