Escapade

Philip Leacock was an expert on filming children, and every film of his is a masterpiece, not just because of the children, but they are usually highly sophisticated, intelligent and interesting plots of steadily increasing suspense. Here is a mystery from the beginning which you only get vague hints of by the strange manoeuvres of the boys, so you as the audience will be as befuddled as the headmaster (Alastair Sim) not being able to make head or tail of anything.

John Mills is excellent as usual as the aggressive pacifist, and no wonder his wife cannot stand him. It gradually appears that they have several children and not just the one clandestinely reading comics when he should go to sleep. The topic of the comics will emerge as an interesting clue to the whole story, as the children see more clearly what the grown-ups are up to than they themselves - "Newspapers are comics for grown-ups, and the problem is they take them seriously."

The great architecture of the film is the towering mystery as it eventually climaxes in sensational glory, dwarfing the whole political world to children's play, while the children are the ones who do something about it. It's one of the most wonderful boys' film ever made, and typical is, that once you have seen it you look forward to see it again.

The action in this charming (yes) Cold War comedy centers around the brilliant, extraordinary son of Mills - a son who is never seen, but who has become a school hero, then a national, and finally, an international hero! At turns moving and hilarious, this film is how a highly civilised people react to the dread of atomic war - I refer to the writers. The enemy is hardly the West, of course, but amongst the freest of humanity, complacency and lassitude reign. But in this wonderful tale, one boy ignites (almost literally - you will know what I mean) the minds of young Britons.

In the mid-1950s (as the British film industry was going through yet another crisis), independent producer David Angel turned out a series of modest but extremely intelligent films, of which the best are this one, "The Sea Shall Not Have Them" (with Michael Redgrave), "Cast a Dark Shadow" (with Dirk Bogarde), and "Carve Her Name With Pride" (with the underrated Virginia McKenna). These films boasted top-notch scripts and actors, but were hampered somewhat by their production values.

In the case of "Escapade," we have a fine cast and plot: John Mills plays a professional pacifist who can't seem to control the violence simmering within his own marriage to Yvonne Mitchell. Fearing a divorce, their sons concoct a plan to put their father's ideas into more pragmatic action; they steal a small airplane, which they plan to fly to Vienna in a calculated stunt that will bring attention to their own pacifist values and that will bring their family closer together. All of this causes much consternation for their school's headmaster, the great Alastair Sim.

In my opinion, Sim makes this movie. So fantastic was his comic timing that he steals every scene he's in -- even from the usually reliable John Mills. Two of Mills' sons are played by Andrew Ray (of "The Mudlark") and Peter Asher (brother of the more famous actress Jane Asher). One of their schoolmates is played by Jeremy Spencer (who would go on to appear in "Summertime" and "The Prince and the Showgirl"). Fans of British cinema should also keep a sharp look-out for character actor Richard Wattis who appears uncredited early on.

Such a cast makes it impossible for any movie to be bad, and indeed, "Escapade" is about 3/4 of a really good movie. Everything is fine while director Philip Leacock keeps a light touch, portraying the ease with which the schoolboys outsmart their parents and teachers. But the final act of the film loses its sense of humor and turns a little mawkish and sentimental. Writer Donald Ogden Stewart (who had already been blacklisted in Hollywood and wrote this screenplay under the pseudonym Gilbert Holland) tries to cram too many serious statements into the last 15 minutes: we get comments on the values of the press, on the potential for world peace, on the idealism of youth and the cynicism of adults, etc. As a result, the finale takes itself too seriously. What we really need is a director like Billy Wilder at the helm -- someone who could undercut the seriousness in order to curtail the sentimentalism. Part of the problem is probably due to the origins of the story as a play, and although Stewart manages to "open" the play successfully, the central gimmick (the fact that we never see Mills' eldest son) is what keeps me from being won over by the film's finale. I just have no reason to idolize/idealize the 16-year-old maverick we never see.

But these few complaints shouldn't stop you from watching this movie. In fact, these weaknesses are admirable because they illustrate just how intelligent the movie is.

According to Greek mythology, Icarus was the son of master craftsman Daedalus, who became famous for creating a labyrinth no one could get out of, and who built wings glued with wax for him and son Icarus to fly over the walls of a prison in which they had been placed by King Minos of Crete. The myth says the son ignored his father's advice not to fly close to the sun and, as a result, his wings melted and he fell to the ocean and drowned.

ESCAPADE cleverly mixes that tale of antiquity with a group of children putting together an initially unexplained but ultimately rather preposterous plot to prevent marital dissolution - which, the film subliminally suggests, lies at the root of social decay and crime.

Unbeknown to well known writer and pacifist John Hampden (engagingly played by John Mills, who threatens violence despite peddling peace), his sons are trying to save his marriage and their own way of life by hatching the abovementioned covert plot that also finds roots in the Cold War, with Vienna the chosen location for landing an aircraft because the main powers (UK, US, France and USSR) are all present in it.

His drive and speeches for peace notwithstanding, Mills overlooks his beautiful wife's need to be cherished and loved, thereby causing anxiety among his three sons: Icarus, Max and Johnny.

The names tell you that Icarus stands for someone different, a soaring soul - brilliant chemistry student and a "natural" at flying aircraft as a young teenager. Like all types of intelligence and genius, Icarus is more heard of than understood or definable. So Icarus is never seen, which I find a really fit and intelligent choice.

Alastair Sim is the headmaster of the school attended by the three boys, and he comes into the fray because gifted Icarus has built a pistol and fired a ball bearing into the leg of a teacher. Sim steals the show. His broguish and yet hypnotic diction kept me waiting for his next scene. He too learns from the boys he teaches and guides, always humble and with a fine sense of humor.

Yvonne Mitchell also conveys very convincingly her frustration at feeling ignored, and not quite clarifying to hubby Mills the reasons for wanting separation.

A message from the unseen Icarus puts the human condition and his antiwar quest in perspective: if it is acceptable to send 18 year olds to war and by extension to probable death, why not do so at 16 or even earlier (at birth, for instance?)

It is a thought-provoking message at a time when the world had recently come out of war, but it remains applicable in 2023, with Russia launching war to retake Ukraine, and many longterm low impact conflicts raging around the globe.

I admit that I found it trying to follow the thread and that I did not endorse the behavior of the enigmatic youngsters but ultimately these 79 minutes were worth watching. 8/10.

John Mills plays a pacifist who is always in a shouting match with his wife Yvonne Mitchell.His children decide to fly in a plane to Vienna to deliver a peace petition.All rather nebulous.