The Way Ahead

“From Workers — To Warriors”

Lieutenant Jim Perry (David Niven) has to turn a group of conscripted civilians into a fighting battalion, and none of them wants to be there. Ted Brewer (Stanley Holloway) and the other new recruits, pulled out of ordinary jobs, find training under Perry and Sergeant Ned Fletcher harder than they expected. Carol Reed films the ensemble as a roomful of individuals, giving each recruit his own face and his own grumbling.