BRITAIN AT WAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23542, 30 December 1939, Page 9

BRITAIN AT WAR

" THE LION HAS WINGS" Of special interest nnd importance as Britain's first full-length propaganda film, sponsored by tlic Government, "The Lion Has Wings," flown to New Zealand by special air inail, will have its first Auckland screenings at the Plaza Theatre on Monday. '1 lie names of Ralph Richardson and Merle Oberon are sufficient guarantee of tlu) first-rate quality of the cast, while the credit titles are headed by the caption "Produced by Alexander Korda," now officially appointed as producer of films for the British Government for the duration of the war. "The Lion Has Wings" can be divided into two parts. Firstly, there i.s tho justification for entering tlie war. Secondly, there is a detailed survey of the precautions taken to defend Britain against air raids. One of the most impressive tilings about the picture's treatment is its calm and objective approach to facts. Only once is the technique of film editing used to hold Hitler up to ridicule, and that is where short shots of his violent speech-making are placed in rapid alternation with glimpses of Knglish bookmakers at Epsom calling the odds.