The First of the Few

Infobox_Film
name = The First of the Few (Spitfire)

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caption = Theatrical Poster
imdb_id = 0034734
director = Leslie Howard
writer = Henry C. James
Kay Strueby
Miles Malleson
Anatole de Grunwald
starring = Leslie Howard
David Niven
producer = Leslie Howard
George King
John Stafford
music = William Walton
cinematography = Georges Périnal
distributor = GFD (UK)
RKO Radio Pictures Inc. (US)
released = 1942
country = UK
runtime = 118 min.
language = English

"The First of the Few", (known as "Spitfire" in the United States), is a 1942 British film, starring and directed by Leslie Howard, and co-starring David Niven. The film score was written by William Walton, the Spitfire Prelude and Fugue.

It is a biography of R.J. Mitchell, the designer of the Supermarine Spitfire. The film's title refers to the words of Winston Churchill who, when speaking of the Battle of Britain aircrew said: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

Almost inevitably, because the film was made during the Second World War and dealt with subjects related to the war, it was effectively propaganda and consequently contained several inaccuracies:
* In the film Mitchell's exact illness is not mentioned. Mitchell had rectal cancer and had a colostomy in 1933. However the film gave many people the impression that he had tuberculosis.
* Mitchell did not work himself to death on the Spitfire, an impression one could conceivably get from this film. He did make sacrifices for his work despite the pain of his illness, and he did continue tweaking and perfecting the Spitfire design up until his death, so this is more misleading than inaccurate.
* Mitchell did not visit Germany and so never met Willy Messerschmitt. The film shows that the trip convinced him to design the Spitfire.

"The First of the Few" was a British film produced and directed by Leslie Howard, with Howard in the starring role of R.J. Mitchell. It tells the story of Mitchell's life and how he developed the design for the famous RAF fighter. David Niven plays his friend and test pilot Geoffrey Crisp, who narrates the biography in flashback. Leslie Howard bore little resemblance to R. J. Mitchell, however, as Mitchell was a large and athletic man. Howard portrayed Mitchell as upper class and mild-mannered. Mitchell - "the Guv'nor" - was in fact working class and had an explosive temper; apprentices were told to watch the colour of his neck and to run if it turned red.

However, the film contains precious footage that would be otherwise be lost to posterity :
* Film footage of the Supermarine S.4 in taking off from Southampton Water, and in flight, which is now available nowhere else.
* Inter-war footage of aerobatic German sailplane flight, of a Grunau Baby in flight, and a Lohning Lo. 100 pulling loop. Again, this is rare footage and thus precious.

Leslie Howard's portrayal of Mitchell has a special significance since Howard was killed when the transport aircraft in which he was a passenger was shot down by the Luftwaffe one year after the film was released.

References

;Notes;Bibliography
* Aldgate, Anthony and Richards, Jeffrey. "Britain Can Take it: British Cinema in the Second World War". Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2nd Edition. 1994. ISBN 0-7486-0508-8.
* Barr, Charles, ed. "All Our Yesterdays: 90 Years of British Cinema". London: British Film Institute, 1986. ISBN 0-85170-179-5.
* Murphy, Robert. "British Cinema and the Second World War". London: Continuum, 2000. ISBN 0-82645-139-X.

External links

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