Review of Paratrooper

What happened to Sullivan or Sousa,not hard enough for the paras perhaps. "The Red Beret" tries but fails to evoke that somewhat blinkered sense of pride that causes members of the Parachute Regiment to refer to all other branches of the British Army as "Crap - Hats". We see the training that disposes of the one actor who might have enlivened the picture - the great Mr S.Baker -very early on just after what might have been the beginning of a beautiful friendship with Pte Mckendrick(Mr A.Ladd) forged in the heat of an unarmed combat session where Mr Baker (in RAF uniform and presumably a "Crap - Hat" himself) is given a lesson in bitch - slapping by Mr Ladd who clearly is not the raw untrained rookie he appears to be. Mr Baker's parachute fails to open,although when Ladd walks up to his body on the ground it looks as if he had merely tripped off the kerb. Mr Leo Genn as the C.O. looks somewhat bemused throughout as though wondering how Mr Ladd managed to get top billing whilst sleeping through his performance.And well he might. "The Red Beret" gives Mr H.Andrews an early chance to hone his senior NCO schtick,although he doesn't quite convince in the accent department it does allow him to speak his deathbed paean to the bagpipes with some authority,bettered only by Sir A.Guinness a few years later in "Tunes of Glory". As for Mr Ladd himself,well,he was about to make the wonderful "Shane" so perhaps we can forgive him for not even attempting to do the Canadian accent and looking as though he was on Quaaludes for breakfast. The love "interest" - if that's not too strong a word - is Miss S.Stephen.How she was chosen over the excellent Miss L.Morris(looking suitably peeved at this omission) is between her agent and the casting director. Her love scene is notable only for the amazing support given throughout by her brassiere in an uncanny echo of Miss J.Russell in "The Outlaw" The back - projection is lamentable,the battle scenes barely competent but the sight of Mr L Genn pulling the pin out of a hand grenade with his teeth is worth the price of admission alone.