This Above All (1942)

Second viewing; first one was on January 11, 1992.

A working-class deserter and an aristocrat who joined the WAF have an affair during World War II.

Wartime  propaganda aimed at disencouraging desertion. Of course, one can always view it as a psychological study of sexual pressure and other pressure that lead a person to finally complying with the sad business of fighting in a war. The use of the title expression, from Shakespeare, is an example of how a lie may be disguised as the truth through sheer emotionalism; in my perception, the case of the main character is such that being "true to himself" implies precisely following his first line of action, that is, deserting; he only diverts from it because of the abovementioned pressures, and then he of course is not being "true to himself". On the more prosaic aspects of dramatic efficacy and verisimilitude, the film falls short, this being the most incompetent deserter of history (unless of course he wanted to get caught); the movie's "highlight" of badness is the female protagonist's speech about England. The author of the source novel died in a plane crash while on Army duty, a case of poetic justice.

Rating: 25 (up from 20)