The following is commentary on Episode No. 44 ("Breaking Point") from members of AFAMILYATWAR-LIST. If you wish to add your thoughts to what is being said on this page, become a part of our discussion group by clicking the "Join" button.
Richard Veit
This is the first of two episodes that centre around David’s friendship with RAF pilot Derek Robbins and his wife, Jill, who live with their two children in a rented home near the airbase. Jill is said to be having a romantic affair with David’s skipper, Jack Ridley, and when David discovers that this ugly rumour is indeed true, he becomes judgmental toward her—perhaps more so than rightfully is his due, considering his own indulgent extra-marital history.
It seems clear that David, particularly when he wants to, can discern right from wrong, and he has grown honest enough with himself to admit his own failings as a husband and father. In a frank conversation with Jill, David confesses that he should have tried harder to salvage his marriage, if only for the kids’ sake, adding that the present war is beginning to sound more and more like a convenient excuse. Then, just prior to the final sortie of his tour, David tells his skipper, “I’m a sucker for temptation. Do you know, I’ve never said no to temptation in my life.” Jack, of course, is destined not to return alive from the ill-fated bombing mission—the victim of armour-piercing shrapnel embedded in heavy flak—nor is Derek’s plane among those landing safely at the airfield.
Some random comments about “Breaking Point”…
Both Richard Easton and Jennifer Hilary are brilliant in their roles as the furtive lovers. Indeed, the casting for Jack Ridley and Jill Robbins simply could not have been better. (Was it an “in joke” or mere coincidence that their names happen to be Jack and Jill?)
This episode graphically depicts the psychological difficulties that arise when a serviceman’s family is sharing living quarters with him during wartime. Granted, there are a wife and children to come home to, but, as Derek explains to David, “You can see everyday what it is you’ve got to lose.”
That is an effectively staged sequence when David spots Jill from the bridge, only to have his shouted greeting drowned out by the cacophony of an approaching barge. Director Bob Hird certainly does have a good sense of the dramatic.
I find Chrissie to be a likeable and sympathetic character, whether in relationships with Frank Cox and Peter Bryant or, in the next episode ("The Lost Ones"), visiting with David at his hospital bedside, where she must endure the scarcely concealed suspicions of Sheila Ashton.
Jill’s mother, I think, is a very well crafted character who serves a critical role in “Breaking Point.” Not only does she watch over the kids, thus freeing Jill to rendezvous in town, but she counsels her daughter and allows us to learn the young woman’s innermost thoughts about the affair with Jack and her troubled marriage to Derek.
How bittersweet it is to hear Jill describe to David what those secret meetings with Jack Ridley have meant to her: “It’s all been a bit like that lovely dream thing that happens when you’re very young, and hardly ever again.”
As always in “A Family at War,” the action scenes are splendidly filmed and edited, and the accuracy and realism are second to none. The claustrophobic interior of the bomber is faithfully captured by the camera, and we feel that we are right there alongside the men—fighting, laughing, praying, dying.
Not only is David slowly (almost imperceptibly) maturing as a husband as the series progresses, but much the same can be said of his military bearing. I find it interesting to witness how quickly David comes to the rescue in this time of emergency, relative to his tardiness in answering the call during a similar airborne situation in “One of Ours,” a span of four and a half years.
Who plays the role of the flight commander, conveying instructions to the airmen during their final briefing? Surely he should have been accorded screen credit for his fine contribution.
Were those American jeeps that transported the men to their aircraft? The steering wheels were mounted on the left side. If so, was this typical RAF equipment during the war, or was there a British version of the vehicle as well?
John Finch
I was pleasantly surprised watching the last two episodes of FAW to find I actually liked them. Normally I can hardly bear to watch anything I’ve written. A great deal was due to the actors, of course.
Amusing, though, if a little painful, to remember that one member of the running cast said to me, “I thought I was just doing another soap, but watching it I realised it was a little more”.
Another (not by any means the best) who went on to become very well known and to make a lot of money, continually denied that FAW played any part in his future prosperity , largely derived from rather puerile drama series of the ‘cops and robbers’ variety. Interviewed from time to time on TV he consistently patronised the series. Normally I love actors, but he taught me that its sometimes more relaxing to have a good old hate.
There was one member of the off-the-floor production team who continually aroused my ire. I wont name him.
Superb direction. Handling the planes (we could only find one source of wartime bombers. It was, I think, in France) was a major achievement in the time scale involved.
Jennifer Hilary was far more glamorous than she was later in a major part in my series SAM.
I was at sea during the war, and most of my friends were in the army rather than the RAF. In addition to the very detailed research I was greatly helped by a novel which, I think, came out in book club form. It was called Never So Young Again and was written by an American, Dan Brennan. (I hope I’ve got my spelling right). I was never able to find anything else he had written subsequently and can only assume that his aircraft was one of those declared as ‘Missing’.
Mike Paris
Dan Brennan seems to have written a number of novels about the air war including Winged Victory, Blood in the Sky and One of Our Bombers is Missing. Judging by the number of second-hand copies available on the web, these must have sold widely. I have a feeling he also wrote a couple of novels based around the French Resistance.
Richard Veit
"Breaking Point" is a bit unusual in that it takes place entirely away from Liverpool, and only one of the regular characters (David Ashton) appears on screen. Written by John Finch, so logically structured is the dramatic action that it can very well stand on its own as a self-contained short story. The characters are honestly motivated throughout, producing a sense of inevitable progression.
To me, these are some of its most unforgettable moments:
The domestic tension between Derek and Jill
David discovering the rendezvous of Jill and Jack
Mrs. Crawford's suspicious confrontation of her daughter
Jack Ridley's drunkenness at the pub
The budding romance of Peter Bryant and Chrissie
David's hypocritical conversation with Jill
His final bombing run over Germany
Jack's agonising death
The shocking news that Derek's plane is missing
David's spill from the motorbike
Director Bob Hird captures it all with a sure hand. The aerial combat footage is truly terrifying, with David showing himself to be quite courageous in the face of death.
John Finch
Richard’s comments on "Breaking Point" and the budding romance of Peter and Chrissie so soon after the death of Frank remind me of the brevity of many wartime relationships as people were moved about and were aware of the brevity of life. Some were as short as a train journey where, packed in the corridors, a couple might meet and be aware of each other in a way others might not achieve in a lifetime. Ships that pass in the night indeed! There was a great deal of superb research done in the course of the series, but the magic moments, I suspect, came from the personal experience of those writers who were actively engaged in those times. Pity we couldn’t find more of them – I might not have had to labour through so many scripts to put in the odd bit.
Eivind Knutsen
When watching these episodes with aeroplanes, I find it very interesting, and I noticed the registration numbers of the planes in the episode "Breaking Point". Should be fun to know if someone remembers which airfield was used when shooting that episode.
See that the planes used have the following registration numbers:
F-BGSR
F-BDRS
F-BGSQ
All of the planes were on French registration at that time, funny thing, according to registers on the Internet. The 2 first listed B-17 planes are both located at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. I have seen both of them during my many visits there.
Registration number F-BGSR is normally flown even today with English registration number G-BEDF, and is called Sally-B, and was also used in the movie Memphis Belle. Unfortunately I read in the last edition of an aeroplane magazine that one of the engines is damaged and awaiting repair.
The second one is on static display inside the American department of the museum.
The last one was scrapped during 1972, so it must have been scrapped only a short time after the episode was shot.
Anyone who has more information to share?
Wayne Wright-Evans
That really is quite interesting. I must pay another visit to Duxford.
You have whetted my appetite for this very nostalgic place! Thank you.
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