THEY FLEW ALONE

UK, 1941, 107 minutes, Black and white.
Anna Neagle, Robert Newton, Edward Chapman.
Directed by Herbert Wilcox.

They Flew Alone (American title, Wings and the Woman) is a biography of English aviator, Amy Johnson. It starts with her loss at sea in 1941 during war service. The film is contemporary, being released at the end of 1941 and so the events are not so much as history but contemporary happenings.

The film sketches in the early life of Amy Johnson, especially her rebellious attitude at school and her qualities of leadership and individuality. After her studies, working at several jobs, she realises that she feels herself only when flying planes. She gets some kind of support from public groups in the early 30s and breaks the record of a flight to Australia. There she meets Jim Mollison (Robert Newton) and they keep in touch. She continues to break records, finally meeting Mollison in England. He proposes and they marry. They also do flights together after he has broken individual records as well. However, he drinks, he has the touch of the philanderer and the marriage falls apart. Amy Johnson continues her work for aviation and the breaking of flight records. When war breaks out, she volunteers for service - at first being rejected and being surprised by this because of the pioneering work she had done for women and aviation. Both Jim Mollison and Amy Johnson flew for the war effort, until her death in 1941.

The film was directed by Herbert Wilcox, Anna Neagle's husband, director of over a dozen films with her as a star. Robert Newton might seem an odd choice for Jim Mollison - except, perhaps, for the drinking problem. The screenplay was written by actor Miles Malleson who appears momentarily in a comic situation trying to sell Amy Johnson a vacuum cleaner at an inappropriate moment.

Because the film was produced during the war, there are several patriotic speeches encouraging people to support the war effort and there is a tribute to the women in the services.

1. A biography of Amy Johnson? As an early 20th century British woman? As a pioneer in aviation? Breaking through in fields of activity for women?

2. Black and white photography, life in England at the time, the international settings for the flights? The radio commentators from the different countries? The musical score by William Alwyn?

3. The film produced in the year of Amy Johnson's death? The events being portrayed as contemporary events? Audience knowledge of Amy Johnson and admiration for her at the time? In retrospect?

4. The audience knowing that Amy Johnson had been killed in action? The flashback structure of the film? Coming back to the war, her volunteering, her work? Her appeal to the people of England during World War II?

5. Amy as a schoolgirl, her not wanting to wear the boater, changing the style of the hat, the confrontation with the headmistress? The headmistress and her urging her to be conventional? Her wanting to break through? Her loving relationship with her parents? Her studies, graduation, the various jobs and her lack of success? Discussing flying with her parents and her decision?

6. Her trying to get financial support from the papers, her being dismissed and insulted? The later change of heart of the editors to support her in her flights? Going to the politicians? Their admiration for her? Taking flying lessons, her skills, working with the engines? Her being able to get the plane, the flight to Australia, breaking the records, the dangers, the fatigue? Her reception in Australia? Her further flights, to Tokyo, to Capetown, to the United States? The importance of aviation in the 30s and its commercial development as well as the development of record-breaking flights?

7. Jim Mollison, his being a pilot, flying with Amy, meeting her at the social in Australia? His missing out on the dances? His continued communication with her? Going to South Africa, his drinking? His girlfriends? Their finally meeting, working together, his proposal? The wedding? The early years of marriage, the decision to fly together, the flight to America, their helping each other, the crash in Connecticut, the hospital? His being too busy, socialising, with the girls? The phone call from a girl? The separation and the divorce? Their meeting each other at the beginning of the war and parting as friends going to do their job?

8. The personality of Amy, presented as heroine? Forthright, good friends with politicians? The support of the press, the headlines? Her radio broadcasts? Her ambitions yet her modesty? The effect of Jim's infidelity, the divorce? Her being dismayed at the beginning of the war in the rejection? Her seeing herself as a pioneer breaking through conventions of male-dominated areas of work?

9. The sketch of her parents, their continued support, grief at her death? Her friends? The people in the air force and the services and their support of her?

10. The newspapers, their support? The politicians? The acclamation from various leaders, including President Roosevelt?

11. The reconstruction of the flights, the types of planes, lack of radio communication, dead-reckoning? The skills in this kind of flying, the endurance? Pioneers for aviation, for the war, for commercial use?

12. An agreeable tribute to a significant Englishwoman?