The First of the Few

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The First of the Few (Spitfire)
Theatrical Poster
Directed by	Leslie Howard
Produced by	Leslie Howard George King John Stafford
Written by	Henry C. James Kay Strueby Miles Malleson Anatole de Grunwald
Starring	Leslie Howard David Niven
Music by	William Walton
Cinematography	Georges Périnal
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures Inc.
Release date(s)	1942
Running time	118 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

The First of the Few, (known as Spitfire in the United States), is a 1942 British film, starring and directed by Leslie Howard, and co-starring David Niven. The film score was written by William Walton.

It is a biography of R.J. Mitchell, the designer of the Supermarine Spitfire. The title refers to the words of Winston Churchill who, when speaking of the Battle of Britain aircrew said: "Never in the face of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few."

Almost inevitably, because the film was made during the Second World War and dealt with subjects related to the war, it was effectively propaganda and consequently contained several inaccuracies:

In the film Mitchell's exact illness is not mentioned. Mitchell had rectal cancer and had a colostomy in 1933. However the film gave many people the impression that he had tuberculosis.
Mitchell did not work himself to death on the Spitfire, an impression one could conceivably get from this film. He did make sacrifices for his work despite the pain of his illness, and he did continue tweaking and perfecting the Spitfire design up until his death, so this is more misleading than inaccurate.
Mitchell did not visit Germany and so never met Willy Messerschmitt. The film shows that the trip convinced him to design the Spitfire.

The First of the Few was a British film produced and directed by Leslie Howard, with Howard in the starring role of R.J. Mitchell. It tells the story of Mitchell's life and how he developed the design for the famous British fighter plane. David Niven plays his friend and test pilot Geoffrey Crisp, who narrates the biography in flashback. Leslie Howard bore little resemblance to R. J. Mitchell, however, as Mitchell was a large and athletic man. Howard portrayed Mitchell as upper-class and mild-mannered. Mitchell - "the Guv'nor" - was in fact working-class and had an explosive temper; apprentices were told to watch the colour of his neck and to run if it turned red.

Leslie Howard's portrayal of Mitchell has a special significance since he was killed when the plane in which he was a passenger was shot down by the Nazis one year after this movie was released.