The Volunteer

This is an odd extra titbit by the Archers, produced for the sake of propaganda, but it is much more interesting than just propaganda. It gives a wonderful insight into life at the navy and on an aircraft carrier, and its value as a documentary is unoverstimable, actually sharing the life on board and even ending up in some battle scenes, as a prelude to their great film of the "Battle on the River Plate" ten years later. The screening is consistently admirable in its very fast flow and ingenious capturing of scenes - there is even a sequence of a cinema performance on board the carrier. Ralph Richardson is the actor who is called off the stage to join the navy, while his dresser is the volunteer who first can't decide whether to go to the front, to the sea or up in the air. He ends up on board the carrier, and makes a much greater success there than he did as a fumbling dresser. The film is enjoyable and spiritual and very witty, so it's far more than just a casual propaganda film.