A look at the current might of the Royal Air Force. Place - Great Britain, time - two months after the start of World War ll.A look at the current might of the Royal Air Force. Place - Great Britain, time - two months after the start of World War ll.A look at the current might of the Royal Air Force. Place - Great Britain, time - two months after the start of World War ll.
Photos
Flora Robson
- Queen Elizabeth I
- (archive footage)
- Directors
- Writers
- Ian Dalrymple(uncredited)
- Adrian Brunel(uncredited)
- E.V.H. Emmett(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaLooking back at this movie, Michael Powell described it as "an outrageous piece of propaganda, full of half-truths and half-lies, with some stagy episodes which were rather embarrassing and with actual facts which were highly distorted." In its defense, it must be admitted that, completed as it was in late 1939, film makers had no idea of the intensity and extent of the destruction that the UK would soon experience during the Blitz, and so an unrealistically optimistic point of view was understandable and inevitable.
- GoofsThe section of the film detailing Germany's prewar conquests contains several errors. The narrator states that Germany occupied the Rhineland in March, 1934. In fact, it was in 1936. Immediately after, a map inaccurately depicts the dismembering of Czechoslovakia in October 1938 and March 1939. The 1938 map depicts Germany annexing the Sudetenland, which is somewhat incorrectly drawn upon the map, but neither it nor the narration shows Hungary annexing the southern portion of Czechoslovakia, nor Poland taking the Teschen district in the center north of the country, both of which occurred simultaneously with Germany's occupation of the Sudetenland (The narrator also speaks of the Sudetenland going "back" to Germany, though, in fact, it had never been part of Germany). When the final dismemberment of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 is depicted, Germany is shown annexing outright, not only the western Czech lands of Bohemia and Moravia (which it did annex), but the center of the country as well; meanwhile, the extreme eastern end of the country is labeled "Slovakia," the nominally independent satellite state recognized by Germany. In fact, Slovakia was located in the center of the country, in areas inaccurately depicted as annexed to Germany; the eastern portion labeled "Slovakia" in the film is, in fact, an area then known as the Carpatho-Ukraine, which was annexed by Hungary the day after Germany occupied the Czech lands in the west (and is today part of Ukraine). Poland also received more Czech territory in March 1939.
- Quotes
Queen Elizabeth I: I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and valour of a king, aye, and a King of England too...
- Crazy creditsOpening credits prologue: The producer expresses his gratitude for the co-operation which he received from the cast, production personnel, newsreel companies, the General Post Office and other documentary film units during the making of this picture.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Overlord (1975)
Featured review
I wasn't thrilled
I really wasn't expecting to see a documentary when I saw the names Merle Oberon and Ralph Richardson, but a documentary it was. "The Lion Has Wings" is a propaganda film produced by Alexander Korda, showing the world as the Nazis begin to take over Europe.
If you know about England at this time in history, and I do, you perhaps won't be as interested in this as others.
The British really wanted to fight, but they were afraid that America wouldn't join them, and they really didn't know how they could stave off the Germans without the U.S.
Whether they could withstand the Germans or not, the Brits wanted to show that they were ready to fight.
Some interesting actual footage. Oberon and Richardson were just there to get people into the theaters. This is pretty dry stuff, although back then, a film of this type was important for morale.
If you know about England at this time in history, and I do, you perhaps won't be as interested in this as others.
The British really wanted to fight, but they were afraid that America wouldn't join them, and they really didn't know how they could stave off the Germans without the U.S.
Whether they could withstand the Germans or not, the Brits wanted to show that they were ready to fight.
Some interesting actual footage. Oberon and Richardson were just there to get people into the theaters. This is pretty dry stuff, although back then, a film of this type was important for morale.
helpful•65
- blanche-2
- Mar 11, 2016
Details
Box office
- Budget
- £30,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 16 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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