Light Up the Sky!

I've just watched this film on the excellent British TV channel Talking Pictures.

Perhaps its best feature is the cast, almost all of whom I recognised, with several being on their way to greater things. Dick Emery has a few brief scenes as a driver, and it was interesting to see Benny Hill in a few non-comedic scenes depicting various emotions - sympathy, irritation, brotherly protectiveness.

His double-act on stage with Tommy Steele was wince-provoking, though I suppose it typified 1940s' entertainment. I couldn't make out the point of Sheila Hancock's terrible singing - it was incredibly bad.

The stage origins of the film are very obvious.

Others have queried the opening and closing scenes of village cricket matches before and after the war. I suppose they could have been meant to portray the quintessential English life that Britain sort to protect, but perhaps this is a subtlety beyond the modest aspirations of this film.

Wikipedia tells us that Tommy Steele deferred £7,500 of his fee, which perhaps is why he was allowed to escape a military haircut.

I'm puzzled as to why the IMDB lists the cast as, for example, "Ian Carmichael ... Lt. Ogleby (as Lt. Ian Carmichael)".