John Pudney Movies

In this adventure, a group of young people try to guard a valuable British plane. Unfortunately, international crooks gull them into believing that they are buyers and hijack the craft. During the flight, the guardians try to take the craft back from the crooks. Meanwhile the RAF flies to their rescue and justice eventually prevails, but not before some daring mid-air stunts ensue. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The British Conflict of Wings was also released as Fuss over Feathers: Both titles are applicable, but only the second title captures the mood of the proceedings. The story takes plays in a Norfolk-country village, where the populace is up in arms over the announcement that the RAF plans to build a target range. It seems that the village is the site for a bird sanctuary that was allegedly established 400 years earlier by King Henry VIII. Faced with an intractable government and an equally unsympathetic bureaucracy, the villages decide to resolve matters in their own inimitable way. Commendably, the RAF is not cast as the villain of the piece: both sides are well represented in the argument, though audience sympathy understandably leans in the direction of the bird-huggers. Conflict Over Wings was adapted by Don Sharp from his own novel. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Originally released in England as The Way to the Stars, Johnny in the Clouds is the story of how the Battle of Britain affected the lives of combatants and civilians alike. Terence Rattigan's screenplay concentrates on three groups of people: an American pilot and his wife, a doomed British officer with a wife and child, and a young couple who plan to marry despite the precariousness of wartime romances. Most of the action takes place at an air base and the neighboring village, where the private citizens react to rationing and other restrictions with various degrees of nobility and selfishness. The American title of this film is derived from the poem "Johnny in the Clouds," recited in tribute to the decease British airman; the U.S. version, which was released after the war, includes a prologue set in the deserted air base, with the bulk of the film offered as a flashback. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi