The Volunteer (1944 film)

Template:More citations needed Template:Use British English Template:Main otherTemplate:Template otherTemplate:Main other The Volunteer (1944) is a short black-and-white British film by the filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger for the British Ministry of Information during the Second World War, as recruitment propaganda for the Fleet Air Arm. The number of volunteers for the Fleet Air Arm rose after its release.

The film features Ralph Richardson starring in a West End production of Othello. Pat McGrath plays his dresser, who joins the Fleet Air Arm and becomes a war hero as famous as Richardson himself. Anna Neagle and Laurence Olivier make cameo appearances, as does the film's director, Michael Powell, and another British film director, Anthony Asquith.

This film was one of a highly regarded series of wartime collaborations between Powell and Pressburger, which also included The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) I Know Where I'm Going! (1945) and A Matter of Life and Death (1946).

The film is available as a supplement to The Criterion Collection DVD of Powell and Pressburger's film 49th Parallel (1941) and on the BFI's blu-ray edition (2001) of Powell and Pressburger's film One of Our Aircraft is Missing (1942).

group shot of three men in naval uniform and one man in civilian dress talking to them

The director Michael Powell during filming for The Volunteer, 1943

Cast

• Ralph Richardson as Lt Cmdr Ralph Richardson
• Pat McGrath as Fred Davey
• Anna Neagle as herself leaving Denham Studios

External links

• The Volunteer reviews and articles at the Powell & Pressburger Pages
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