The World Owes Me a Living
Encyclopedia
The World Owes Me a Living is a 1945
British World War II film drama, directed by Vernon Sewell
and starring David Farrar and Judy Campbell
. The film is based on a novel by John Llewellyn Rhys, a young author who was killed in action in 1940 while serving in the Royal Air Force
. Its credits acknowledged the assistance and co-operation of the Air Ministry
and the de Havilland Aircraft Company
.
mode.
Paul is seen as part of a flying circus
display at which Moira is a spectator. A serious accident to one of the planes brings them together. That evening he meets old flame Eve Heatherley (Sonia Dresdel
), who is now engaged Paul's friend Jack Graves (Jack Livesey
). He runs into Moira again, and they talk of her passion for flying. The display accident causes the flying circus to fold and Paul is out of a job. He drifts from job to job for a time, before running into Chuck Rockley (Eric Barker
), a fellow performer in the old flying circus, who informs him that he and Jack are starting a new flying circus to be financed by Eve, now married to Jack. Paul accepts the offer to join them, and together they open the Pegasus Flying Field.
The venture is a success, but Eve soon loses interest and starts to take an interest in Jerry Frazer, a local ex-pilot. One afternoon an aircraft makes an emergency landing at Pegasus, and it turns out that the pilot is Moira, who is training for a record-breaking long-distance flight. She says she is looking for a co-pilot and asks Jack, who is talked out of it by Eve, and Paul, who refuses on the grounds of the plan being too risky. He does however agree to give Moira instruction in blind flying.
The Pegasus pilots are offered the opportunity to earn extra money by flying at night to give the local RAF station the opportunity to practice searchlight operations. Moira accompanies Paul on one flight, but the plane develops engine trouble and they have to land away from base. They check in to a local hotel for the night and realise that they are in love. Meanwhile Jerry, encouraged by Eve, is working on an idea he has for freight-carrying gliders. When Eve dies suddenly and unexpectedly, Jack steps in to help Jerry with his ideas. Initially there is little commercial interest in the glider idea, until finally an aviation company offers to build a prototype if Pegasus will agree to finance a Transatlantic test flight. Moira agrees to front up the cash as long as she is allowed to join the flight.
The glider is built and preparations are finalised for its inaugural flight when an inspection by the Air Ministry calls a halt, as the prototype is too close in design to a craft secretly being worked on by their own designers. In recompense, the Air Ministry offers to buy out the Pegasus concern and provide the Pegasus men with RAF piloting jobs. Everyone is happy apart from Moira, who is bitterly disappointed about losing the chance of a Transatlantic flight. Paul asks her to marry him.
The action returns to the present, where Paul's memory is obviously returning. He starts to question Moira but she tells him that he is over-tired and they will discuss things the following day. She leaves his bedside and goes into an ante-room, where she is met by two small children asking "Can we see Daddy now?"
praised Campbell's performance but found little else of worth, speaking of "ragged, dishevelled continuity" and observing "the gist of the story is timidly revealed in the last reel, but the build-up, with its sketchy romantic interludes, many aimless flights and repeated pub-crawls, is neither good drama nor much of a compliment to the pioneers of British aviation."
The current status of the film is unclear. It is believed to be still in circulation via low-quality bootleg copies, but the British Film Institute
does not hold the original prints and negatives in the BFI National Archive
, and classify the film as "missing". The film is included on the BFI's "75 Most Wanted
" list of missing British feature films, due mainly to contemporary re-evaluation by film historians of Sewell's output as a director.
1945 in film
The year 1945 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Paramount Studios releases theatrical short cartoon titled The Friendly Ghost, featuring a ghost named Casper.* With Rossellini's Roma Città aperta, Italian neorealist cinema begins....
British World War II film drama, directed by Vernon Sewell
Vernon Sewell
Vernon Campbell Sewell was a British film director, screenwriter, producer writer and, briefly, an actor. Sewell was born in London, England in 1903. He was educated at Marlborough College. He directed over 30 films during his career, starting with Morgenrot in 1933...
and starring David Farrar and Judy Campbell
Judy Campbell
Judy Campbell was an English light comedy actress and occasional playwright, Noël Coward's muse. Her daughter is the actor and singer Jane Birkin, her son the screenwriter and director Andrew Birkin, and among her grandchildren are the actresses Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon, the poet Anno...
. The film is based on a novel by John Llewellyn Rhys, a young author who was killed in action in 1940 while serving in the 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...
. Its credits acknowledged the assistance and co-operation of the Air Ministry
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964...
and the de Havilland Aircraft Company
De Havilland
The de Havilland Aircraft Company was a British aviation manufacturer founded in 1920 when Airco, of which Geoffrey de Havilland had been chief designer, was sold to BSA by the owner George Holt Thomas. De Havilland then set up a company under his name in September of that year at Stag Lane...
.
Plot
In June 1944, Air Commodore Paul Collyer (Farrar) crash lands his plane on return from a reconnaissance mission. He appears to be suffering from amnesia and is unable to pass on the vital information he learned from the mission. The surgeon diagnoses no actual injury to the brain, but states that the memory loss is most likely attributable to shock, and in such cases memory is most often recovered through some mental jolt from the past. Moira Barrett (Campbell) is summoned to his bedside; he seems to recognise her, and his mind starts to go into flashbackFlashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
mode.
Paul is seen as part of a flying circus
Flying Circus
Flying Circus may mean:In aviation:*Jagdgeschwader 1 , a German World War I fighter wing commanded by Manfred von Richthofen at one point*The American World War II air corps led by Joe Foss...
display at which Moira is a spectator. A serious accident to one of the planes brings them together. That evening he meets old flame Eve Heatherley (Sonia Dresdel
Sonia Dresdel
Sonia Dresdel was an English actress, whose career ran between the 1940s and 1970s.She was born Lois Obee in Hornsea, East Riding of Yorkshire, England and was educated at Aberdeen High School for Girls....
), who is now engaged Paul's friend Jack Graves (Jack Livesey
Jack Livesey
Jack Livesey was a British film actor. He was the son of Sam Livesey and the brothers of Barry Livesey and Roger Livesey.-Selected filmography:* The Passing of the Third Floor Back * Old Bones of the River...
). He runs into Moira again, and they talk of her passion for flying. The display accident causes the flying circus to fold and Paul is out of a job. He drifts from job to job for a time, before running into Chuck Rockley (Eric Barker
Eric Barker
Eric Leslie Barker born in Thornton Heath, Surrey, was an English comedy actor. He is most remembered for his roles in the popular British Carry On films.-Career:...
), a fellow performer in the old flying circus, who informs him that he and Jack are starting a new flying circus to be financed by Eve, now married to Jack. Paul accepts the offer to join them, and together they open the Pegasus Flying Field.
The venture is a success, but Eve soon loses interest and starts to take an interest in Jerry Frazer, a local ex-pilot. One afternoon an aircraft makes an emergency landing at Pegasus, and it turns out that the pilot is Moira, who is training for a record-breaking long-distance flight. She says she is looking for a co-pilot and asks Jack, who is talked out of it by Eve, and Paul, who refuses on the grounds of the plan being too risky. He does however agree to give Moira instruction in blind flying.
The Pegasus pilots are offered the opportunity to earn extra money by flying at night to give the local RAF station the opportunity to practice searchlight operations. Moira accompanies Paul on one flight, but the plane develops engine trouble and they have to land away from base. They check in to a local hotel for the night and realise that they are in love. Meanwhile Jerry, encouraged by Eve, is working on an idea he has for freight-carrying gliders. When Eve dies suddenly and unexpectedly, Jack steps in to help Jerry with his ideas. Initially there is little commercial interest in the glider idea, until finally an aviation company offers to build a prototype if Pegasus will agree to finance a Transatlantic test flight. Moira agrees to front up the cash as long as she is allowed to join the flight.
The glider is built and preparations are finalised for its inaugural flight when an inspection by the Air Ministry calls a halt, as the prototype is too close in design to a craft secretly being worked on by their own designers. In recompense, the Air Ministry offers to buy out the Pegasus concern and provide the Pegasus men with RAF piloting jobs. Everyone is happy apart from Moira, who is bitterly disappointed about losing the chance of a Transatlantic flight. Paul asks her to marry him.
The action returns to the present, where Paul's memory is obviously returning. He starts to question Moira but she tells him that he is over-tired and they will discuss things the following day. She leaves his bedside and goes into an ante-room, where she is met by two small children asking "Can we see Daddy now?"
Cast
- David Farrar as Paul Collyer
- Judy CampbellJudy CampbellJudy Campbell was an English light comedy actress and occasional playwright, Noël Coward's muse. Her daughter is the actor and singer Jane Birkin, her son the screenwriter and director Andrew Birkin, and among her grandchildren are the actresses Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon, the poet Anno...
as Moira Barrett - Sonia DresdelSonia DresdelSonia Dresdel was an English actress, whose career ran between the 1940s and 1970s.She was born Lois Obee in Hornsea, East Riding of Yorkshire, England and was educated at Aberdeen High School for Girls....
as Eve Heatherley - Jack LiveseyJack LiveseyJack Livesey was a British film actor. He was the son of Sam Livesey and the brothers of Barry Livesey and Roger Livesey.-Selected filmography:* The Passing of the Third Floor Back * Old Bones of the River...
as Jack Graves - Eric BarkerEric BarkerEric Leslie Barker born in Thornton Heath, Surrey, was an English comedy actor. He is most remembered for his roles in the popular British Carry On films.-Career:...
as Chuck Rockley - John LaurieJohn LaurieJohn Paton Laurie was a British actor born in Dumfries, Scotland. Although he is now probably most recognised for his role as Private James Frazer in the sitcom Dad's Army , he appeared in hundreds of feature films, including films by Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Powell and Laurence Olivier...
as Matthews - Anthony HawtreyAnthony HawtreyAnthony John Hawtrey was an English actor on stage and screen, and theatre director.-Life:He was born in Claygate, Surrey, on 22 January 1909, the illegitimate son of Sir Charles Hawtrey and Olive Morris. He was educated at Bradfield College, then studied for the stage under Bertha Moore...
as Jerry Frazer - Wylie WatsonWylie WatsonWylie Watson was a British actor. Among his best known roles were those of "Mr Memory", an amazing man who commits "50 new facts to his memory every day" in Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 film The 39 Steps, and wily storekeeper Joseph Macroon in the Ealing comedy Whisky Galore!...
as Conductor - Alan KeithAlan KeithAlan Keith OBE was a British actor, disc jockey and radio presenter, noted for being the longest serving and oldest presenter on British radio, at the time of his death aged 94....
as Manager Flying Circus - Amy VenessAmy VenessAmy Veness was a British film actress. She played the role of Grandma Huggett in The Huggetts Trilogy.-Selected filmography:* Please Help Emily * Let Me Explain, Dear * A Southern Maid...
as Mrs. Waterman - Stewart RomeStewart RomeStewart Rome was a British actor who appeared in more than 150 films between 1913 and 1950. He was born in Newbury, Berkshire in 1886 as Wernham Ryott Gifford but took the stage name of Stewart Rome which was later unsuccessfully contested by Cecil Hepworth who also used the name...
as Air Vice-Marshal
Reception and later history
The World Owes Me a Living does not appear to have attracted much critical attention on its release. A surviving review from Kine WeeklyKine Weekly
The Kinematograph Weekly, popularly known as Kine Weekly, was a trade newspaper catering to the British film industry. It was published in Britain between 1889 and 1971.-Publication history:...
praised Campbell's performance but found little else of worth, speaking of "ragged, dishevelled continuity" and observing "the gist of the story is timidly revealed in the last reel, but the build-up, with its sketchy romantic interludes, many aimless flights and repeated pub-crawls, is neither good drama nor much of a compliment to the pioneers of British aviation."
The current status of the film is unclear. It is believed to be still in circulation via low-quality bootleg copies, but the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
does not hold the original prints and negatives in the BFI National Archive
BFI National Archive
The BFI National Archive is a department of the British Film Institute, and one of the largest film archives in the world. It was originally set up as the National Film Library in 1935; its first curator was Ernest Lindgren. In 1955 its name became the National Film Archive, and in 1992, the...
, and classify the film as "missing". The film is included on the BFI's "75 Most Wanted
BFI 75 Most Wanted
The BFI 75 Most Wanted is a list compiled by the British Film Institute of their most sought-after British feature films not currently held in the BFI National Archive, and classified as "missing, believed lost". The films chosen range from quota quickies and B-movies to lavish prestige...
" list of missing British feature films, due mainly to contemporary re-evaluation by film historians of Sewell's output as a director.