Cinema Essentials

The Eagle Has Landed is an all-star World War II thriller based on an intriguing, if unlikely, premise. In 1943 Adolf Hitler's greatest ally, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, was rescued from a mountain top prison by elite German troops. Emboldened by this success, Hitler orders an even more daring wartime mission: to kidnap his greatest adversary, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Hurricane (released as "Mission of Honor" in the US) is a fictionalised version of the World War II exploits of 303 Squadron of the Royal Air Force. 303 Squadron was mostly comprised of Polish pilots, who had fled their own country after its invasion by Nazi Germany. They made their way to Britain and signed up with the RAF in order to continue the fight against the Germans. The film focuses on 303 Squadron's experiences during the Battle of Britain in 1940, during which time it became the RAF's highest scoring squadron flying the Hawker Hurricane fighter.

In this comedy, Michael Craig plays Jack Hopkins, an aircraft designer working for the aerospace company owned by Sir Giles Thompson (Cecil Parker). Sir Giles is trying to win a big order for his company's new supersonic jet airliner from American airline boss Paul Fisher (Alan Hale Jr.). To do this he needs to tempt him away from the products of a rival firm, Polygon, led by the aristocratic Lord Upshott (Roland Culver).