Conflict of Wings

Conflict of Wings
Original lobby card
Directed by John Eldridge
Produced by Herbert Mason
Written by John Pudney
Based on novel by Don Sharp[1]
Starring John Gregson
Muriel Pavlow
Kieron Moore
Niall MacGinnis
Music by Philip Green
Cinematography Arthur Grant
Moray Grant
Edited by Lito Carruthers
Production
company
Group 3 Films
Distributed by British Lion
Release date
  • 30 March 1954 (1954-03-30) (United Kingdom, London)
  • 26 December 1954 (1954-12-26) (USA, New York)
Running time
 84 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English

Conflict of Wings is a 1954 British drama film directed by John Eldridge and starring John Gregson, Muriel Pavlow and Kieron Moore.[2] It is based on a novel by Don Sharp.[3]

Plot

A small Norfolk village is outraged when it is discovered that the (fictional) Ministry of Land Acquisition proposes to take over the nearby Island of Children, a bird sanctuary, for the RAF to use as an air firing range. A struggle of wills begins between the authorities and the villagers, who resort to a variety of ways to prevent damage to the historic island. Harry Tilney is all for taking on the Government, but Sally has a boyfriend stationed at the nearby Royal Air Force base, Corporal Bill Morris, so she goes to see him first.

Meanwhile, Squadron Leader Parsons is informed that his unit's mission is being changed to ground attack. The de Havilland Vampire jets have to be modified to mount rockets. Parsons is informed he will have three weeks for the conversion, then four weeks to get his men trained. His commanding officer is not at liberty to inform him that the unit will then be sent overseas, but he takes the hint.

The land acquisition is assigned to bureaucrat Mr. Wentworth, which is rather awkward for him, as he is a prominent member of a bird watching society. He comes to discuss the situation with Harry, but Harry is drunk and drives him away. The villagers then learn that fishing rights to the area were granted to the people by Henry VIII. Soapy, the professional eel catcher, can squat on the land and use those rights to block the acquisition. However, Soapy receives a letter from the Government stating that there is no evidence that such rights exist.

Bookie then discovers that the land was given to the Church by Henry VIII for assistance in quelling a rebellion. The villagers present this information to Parsons. He agrees to pass it along to the Government, but in the meantime he insists on continuing with the training. In desperation, the local people take to their boats and form a human shield around the island just before the first bombing run. However, the RAF controller cannot get a message through to have the flight cancelled because a field telephone wire has been accidentally broken, while cloud cover is concealing the site from the approaching aircraft. Fortunately, the protestors are spotted just in time to avoid a disaster. The official inquiry will take months or a year, by which time the unit will have been sent to Malaya.

Cast

Original novel

It was based on the first novel by Don Sharp. A reviewer from the Sydney Morning Herald described it as follows:

This reviewer's guess is that the story began as a film scenario, which could explain the precise, illustrative, uninspired style of the novel. Tasmanian-born Don Sharp has been in turn actor, broadcaster and film producer; and a background of that kind rarely favours the novel form. One sees its influence in sentences such as: "The villagers greeted Sally conventionally"-a playwright's note of guidance to a producer, rather than a novelist's picture of a scene... Behind the quietly amusing account of this controversy [the storyline] is the larger question whether English tradition must bow before the needs of national security, and Don Sharp debates it with intelligent sympathy. But the novel suffers because his characters are wooden and shaped to convenient patterns. It is as if they require to be brought to life by good actors in one of those rural settings which English film producers contrive so well.[4]

The Brisbane Telegraph thought the novel "deserves to be welcomed with banners and trumpets. "Conflict of Wings" is innocent of fancy technique, and its simple prose seems to capture the cool, wind swept quality of the Norfolk marshes beloved by the author."[5]

Production

It was originally called The Norfolk Story.[6]

The film was made at Beaconsfield Film Studios, on location in Norfolk and in East Yorkshire at RAF Leconfield. The film sets were designed by art director Ray Simm.

Release

The film was re-titled for the American market as Fuss Over Feathers.

References

  1. ↑ "REVIEWS IN BRIEF". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 22 May 1954. p. 11. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  2. ↑ Harper & Porter p.188
  3. ↑ ""Conflict of Wings"". The Australian Women's Weekly. 22, (25). Australia, Australia. 17 November 1954. p. 61. Retrieved 28 January 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ↑ "REVIEWS IN BRIEF". The Sydney Morning Herald (36, 323). New South Wales, Australia. 22 May 1954. p. 11. Retrieved 28 January 2017 – via National Library of Australia. >
  5. ↑ "Impressive tale by an Australian". Brisbane Telegraph. Queensland, Australia. 14 August 1954. p. 17 (LAST RACE). Retrieved 28 January 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ↑ "Comedy is child's play to former actor". The Australian Women's Weekly. 20, (23). Australia, Australia. 5 November 1952. p. 54. Retrieved 28 January 2017 – via National Library of Australia.

Bibliography

  • Harper, Sue & Porter, Vincent. British Cinema of the 1950s: The Decline of Deference. Oxford University Press, 2003.
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