The Way Ahead (1944)

Director

• Carol Reed

Starring

• David Niven
• Raymond Huntley
• Billy Hartnell [William Hartnell]
• Stanley Holloway
• James Donald

Last On

12:05-13:25 Fri 29th May 2026 135m
5ACTION

Synopsis

This is one of the finest "we're in this together" flag-wavers produced in Britain during the Second World War. From Eric Ambler and Peter Ustinov's script, director Carol Reed, who had earned a reputation for social realism in the mid-1930s and had spent part of the war making army documentaries, creates a totally believable world in which a squad of raw recruits becomes an integral part of the local community as they go through basic training. David Niven is top-billed, but he generously enters into the ensemble spirit that makes this beautifully observed drama as uplifting today as it was in 1944.