Wonderful film, despite its inaccuracies
Okay, the British did not break the sound barrier, that stuff about pushing the stick forward, counter-intuitively, to break the barrier is patent nonsense (doing so guarantees a fast crash), and I suppose some people will complain about the movie being "dated" after a mere 56 years.
But this is a great film nonetheless. Typical of David Lean, in this thoroughly untypical (for him) movie, he elicits magnificent performances from his actors, not least the amazing Sir Ralph Richardson (who won both the BAFTA and NY Film Critics Best Actor awards), while keeping all the elements of the story in balance. This film works on a personal level, at which Lean was so expert, exploring and revealing his characters' lives and feelings. But even more importantly it celebrates the exuberance of flight, the wonder of technology -- things that may be out of favor today, or at least be viewed in a blase manner by people accustomed to jet flight and quick trips across the globe. But in 1952 this era was just dawning, and the possibilites of flight, the sheer exhilaration of soaring above the clouds, even contemplating space travel, as an achievement of man's indomitable spirit and ceaseless need to advance, was breathtaking and invigorating. The sequence of flying from Britain to Cairo in five hours, past the glories of both the ancient and modern worlds, is the highlight of this film and beautifully encapsules its themes.
All in all, it's wonderful to at long, long last have this hugely acclaimed film available on DVD. And in an excellent print of the full-length, original British release, not the edited, retitled US version. Good show.
(But why they included this film in a so-called "World War" collection is beyond me, as virtually nothing in it takes place during, or has anything to do with, the Second World War. Still, I'll take it as I can get it.)