Let's get it right off our chest: "The Lion Has Wings" is British propaganda, and does not make the slightest pretensions of being anything else. At the very outset the narrator tells us in a formal prologue that we are to be shown "what the British are thinking and how they feel." Thus, unless you object on principle to other people's feelings, you should not object at all to the Lion making his point.

Characteristically enough, the Lion is rather slow in growing its wings: but once fully equipped it is no mean animal to reckon with. First we are paraded in March-of-Time fashion through the British way of living: housing projects and sports and merry-making (as everybody knows, the Nazis have suppressed all three). In between we catch occasional glimpses of what the Nazis do: goose-stepping and listening to the guttural shrieks of Der Fuchrer. These contrasts are worked out with the imperturbable British humor which throughout saves "The Lion Has Wings" from becoming annoying.

The Royal Air Force has collaborated with Mr. Korda in making his Winged Lion look both authentic and terrifying. Thus we are initiated into all the "secrets" of air defense which the Government deems wise to publicize, and we are even allowed to share the crammed quarters of a bomber with the handsome young fellows who fight for "liberty, truth, and beauty." Doubtless, even the most die-hard pacifist will get a vicarious thrill out of dog-fights in the air and a spectacular bombardment of German battleships at Kiel. "The Lion Has Wings" interests only insofar as it is a carefully elaborated was document; it offers little in the way of a plot. Ralph Richardson in uniform is entirely superfluous; but as far as Merle Oberon in nurse's uniform is concerned, she makes you feel like throwing away your citizenship to get wounded in the fight for the Cause.