Reach for Glory – 1962 | 86 mins | Drama | B&W

Plot Synopsis

Reach for Glory was adapted from John Rae’s novel The Custard Boys by documentary filmmaker Philip Leacock. Leacock’s haunting and largely forgotten film examines themes including racism, anti-Semitism, war propaganda and its psychological effect on adolescent youth, conscientious objection and the adolescent cruelty as a consequence of parental weakness. Some of the tribal savagery and innocence lost is reminiscent of Golding’s The Lord of the Flies and the shocking ending poses some disturbing questions.

Set during WWII, John Curlew (Martin Tomlinson) is a troubled teenager who is part of a gang comprising of London boys evacuated to a small town on the Suffolk coast. All are army cadets dreaming of glory and fearful that the fighting will be over before they’re old enough to enlist. The boys have their own mock brigade, a headquarters in a dilapidated country house and stage their own pretend war games on their bicycles.

John’s life becomes increasingly complicated when he is asked by the school headmaster to befriend Mark Stein (Oliver Grimm), an Austrian Jewish refugee. John’s bigoted and zealous friends greet Mark with Hitler salutes and shun him in class until he is reluctantly accepted into the gang. But John also has reason to be wary of his fanatical friends; unbeknown to them his elder brother is not in the forces but a conscientious objector living in London. The gang have rivals in the town, and when both sides agree to a dawn fight for ownership of an antique war medal, Mark abandons them just as the brawling is to commence. The gang decides to stage a mock court-martial using blank cartridges and execute Mark for cowardice.