One of Our Aircraft Is Missing

One of Our Aircraft Is Missing
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMichael Powell
Emeric Pressburger
Written byMichael Powell
Emeric Pressburger
Produced byMichael Powell
Emeric Pressburger
Stanley Haynes
Starring
CinematographyRonald Neame
Edited byDavid Lean
Distributed byAnglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors
Release date
  • 27 June 1942 (1942-06-27)
Running time
UK: 102 minutes
US: 82 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£70,000 (est.)
Box office$478,939 (US rentals)[1]

One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (stylised on screen as ......one of our aircraft is missing) is a 1942 British black-and-white war film, mainly set in the German-occupied Netherlands.[2] It was the fourth collaboration between the British writer-director-producer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger and the first film they made under the banner of The Archers.

Although considered a propaganda film and made under the authority of the Ministry of Information as part of a series of film productions aimed at morale in the United Kingdom, it is elevated by the story and production values above the usual jingoistic fare.[3] Today, One of Our Aircraft Is Missing is considered one of the "best of British films of the era".[4]

A reversal of the plot of Powell and Pressburger's previous film, 49th Parallel (1941), One of Our Aircraft Is Missing has the British trying to escape with the help of various locals. In the 49th Parallel, the Germans stranded in Canada argued and fought amongst themselves, while the British fliers in this film work well together as a team.

  1. ^ Macnab 1993, p. 163.
  2. ^ Hill, Peter (28 May 2020). "Meet the parentheses: punctuation in film titles!!". BFI. British Film Institute. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  3. ^ Powell 1986, p. 388.
  4. ^ Dolan 1985, p. 63.