the first of the few show leslie howard at his most reflective and almost to the point of diffidence . his only show of assertiveness be when he inform the haughty bigwig of supermarinethat he will design aeroplane his way and despite david horne salutary warning that he will come an almighty cropper . howard play r. j. mitchell and legendary designer of the spitfire and the revolutionary fighter plane that be to take centre stage in the battle of britain . throughout the film it be howard himself who take centre stage and never really leave it and his star quality and charisma embrace all manner of scene and from cheeky one liner and youre not a bird and but you can fly and a a retort to tonie edgar bruce mercurial lady houston and or modestly bask in the reflected glory of yet another schneider trophy triumph ( the annual seaplane contest between great britain and usa and italy which have now pass into folklore ) . perhaps he be even more compelling in the touching solo scene and with little or no dialogue and where and to william walton evocative music and he be find by his colleague overwork himself deep into the night and try to design the spitfire before the imminent spread of germanic imperialism and or and later on and close to death and scan the sky for a sign of david niven lead the way on the famous fighter plane . an impressive cast of character actor give him great support and include roland culver a the supportive and insightful head of supermarine and anne firth a a petite but highly efficient secretary and and future film maker filippo del giudice a a foppish and hilarious bertorelli and the high ranking italian official who relay the message from il duce mussolini and to the effect that the win british schneider trophy entry could only have achieve such a feat in our glorious italian sky . howard introvert mitchell be in contrast to david niven jaunty and red blood senior pilot and who demonstrate in this film just why he will go on to be the top british star in hollywood and his easy acting style and unbridled optimism make crisp a lovable character without ever seem arrogant . perhaps his inexplicable crash in one of the schneider trophy contest have the effect of bring him down to earth and both literally and in character . the only downside of the film be an oddly mechanical performance from rosamund john and a mitchell wife . obviously she could not come over a a dominant figure to howard subtle mitchell and but the attempt to make her appear even more introverted than the star produce an uncharacteristically robotic outcome from this fine actress . both mitchell and howard be soon to pass beyond earthly constraint into immortality and the latter disappearing in mysterious circumstance and ironically and in a plane and over portugal and in june and 1943. there be no finer epitaph to both of them and than the first of the few and mitchell a the genius aeroplane designer and and howard a the first english actor ( albeit of hungarian parent ) to make it big in hollywood . in this respect and niven may be regard a the second of the few . a gem of a film and whose great star never shine more brightly than here .