The First of the Few 1942 [x264-ac3-mkv] (oan)

The First of the Few, (known as Spitfire in the United States), is a 1942

British film, starring and directed by Leslie Howard, and co-starring David

Niven. The film score was written by William Walton, the Spitfire Prelude

and Fugue.



It is a biography of R.J. Mitchell, the designer of the Supermarine Spitfire.

The film's title refers to the words of Winston Churchill who, when

speaking of the Battle of Britain aircrew said: "Never in the field of human

conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."



Almost inevitably, because the film was made during the Second World

War and dealt with subjects related to the war, it was effectively

propaganda and consequently contained several inaccuracies:



* In the film Mitchell's exact illness is not mentioned. Mitchell had rectal

cancer and had a colostomy in 1933. However the film gave many people

the impression that he had tuberculosis.



* Mitchell did not work himself to death on the Spitfire, an impression

one could conceivably get from this film. He did make sacrifices for his

work despite the pain of his illness, and he did continue tweaking and

perfecting the Spitfire design up until his death, so this is more misleading

than inaccurate.



* Mitchell did not visit Germany and so never met Willy Messerschmitt.

The film shows that the trip convinced him to design the Spitfire.



The First of the Few was a British film produced and directed by Leslie

Howard, with Howard in the starring role of R.J. Mitchell. It tells the story

of Mitchell's life and how he developed the design for the famous RAF

fighter. David Niven plays his friend and test pilot Geoffrey Crisp, who

narrates the biography in flashback. Leslie Howard bore little

resemblance to R. J. Mitchell, however, as Mitchell was a large and

athletic man. Howard portrayed Mitchell as upper class and mildmannered.

Mitchell - "the Guv'nor" - was in fact working class and had an

explosive temper; apprentices were told to watch the colour of his neck

and to run if it turned red.



However, the film contains precious footage that would be otherwise be

lost to posterity:



* Film footage of the Supermarine S.4 in taking off from Southampton

Water, and in flight, which is now available nowhere else.



* Inter-war footage of aerobatic German sailplane flight, of a Grunau

Baby in flight, and a Lohning Lo. 100 pulling loop. Again, this is rare

footage and thus precious.



Leslie Howard's portrayal of Mitchell has a special significance since

Howard was killed when the transport aircraft in which he was a

passenger was shot down by the Luftwaffe one year after the film was

released.

http://www.imagebam.com/image/c955d542061214

General

Format : Matroska

File size : 699 MiB

Duration : 1h 53mn

Overall bit rate : 859 Kbps



Video

ID : 1

Format : AVC

Format profile : High@L4.1

Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames

Duration : 1h 53mn

Bit rate : 650 Kbps

Nominal bit rate : 664 Kbps

Width : 704 pixels

Height : 576 pixels

Display aspect ratio : 4/3

Frame rate : 25.000 fps

Writing library : x264 core 65



Audio

ID : 2

Format : AC-3

Duration : 1h 53mn

Bit rate mode : Constant

Bit rate : 192 Kbps

Language : English