MILLIONS LIKE US

Long before the British 'New Wave' and the 'Kitchen Sink' there were movies like "Millions Like Us",  pieces of wartime realism filmed on authentic locations and peopled with actors who talked and looked just like the people sitting in the stalls. The acting may have been a tad ropy but the characters were believable, the approach taken akin to that of documentaries. "Millions Like Us" was the work of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat who began their careers as writers, (they wrote Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes"), before taking over the director's reins as well. They were always overshadowed by Powell and Pressburger and yet they made several outstanding films and this is one of them, honest and, although very moving, totally lacking in sentimentality, unlike similar products being churned out of  Hollywood at the same time.