For Those in Peril

Flyer "P" (Ralph Michael) has been grounded by the RAF and posted to assist a naval rescue squadron tasked with fetching shot-down pilots from the Channel. He's not very happy about this, but his stoic CO "Murray" (David Farrar) is sympathetic to his disgruntlement and gradually hopes that his new charge will begin to appreciate the cruciality of their task. They zip about the water in their high-speed motor launches avoiding enemy fighters and minefields (planted by both sides) and there's a decent sense of peril built up for just about an hour. It's not quite propaganda, but it has a 1944 feel good element to it that is augmented by loads of library footage and a sense of the stiff upper lip. John Slater adds amiably to the cast of familiar British faces and though it's all a bit predictable and the acting/writing nondescript, it raises awareness of the perilous nature of the risks of tracking and rescuing stranded air crews (and the flimsiness of some of their kit) as the conflict neared it's close.