<p>In a war movie so classic that it informed much of what came after it, David Niven is given the job of turning raw recruits into fighting men. Released in 1944, <em>The Way Ahead</em> is like a Rosetta stone for understanding much of what came afterwards in British film and TV, from <em>Dad's Army</em> to, arguably, <em>Are You Being Served?</em> It was written by Eric Ambler and Peter Ustinov, and directed by Carol Reed, a dream team that turns this army propaganda film into something special. Joining Rob to discuss it are Mark Wallace of the Total Politics Group and culture journalist George Cochrane.</p><br><p>Next week, it's our mailbag episode.</p><h3>Drop us a line! Send comments and suggestions to <a href="mailto:warmovietheatre@gmail.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">warmovietheatre@gmail.com</a>.</h3><h3><br></h3><h3>Would you like to know more? See the list of films we'd like to do? Buy merch? Visit our website: <a href="https://warmovietheatre.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://warmovietheatre.com</a></h3><p><br></p><h3>Visit us at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WarMovieTheatre/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">facebook.com/WarMovieTheatre</a> or on <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/warmovietheatre.bsky.social" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bluesky</a> and <a href="https://x.com/warmovietheatre" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Twitter</a> or <a href="https://warmovietheatre.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">at our website</a>.</h3><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>