There's not much evidence in this stiff-upper-lipped Second World War drama to suggest that Terence Young would go on to direct three of the best Bond movies in the early 1960s. The action is almost totally reliant on the sort of gung-ho camaraderie that was characteristic of the recruiting propaganda that filled British screens in the first days of the conflict. Edward Underdown's Guards officer and Ralph Clanton's have-a-go Yank are nothing more than caricatures, but contemporary audiences queued round the block to see their exploits as they drove the Nazis back to Berlin. They weren't divided, but they weren't very interesting, either.

The film begins in a WW II training depot of a British Guards armoured regiment where recruits from many walks of life learn to survive the strict discipline and training together before going into battle in tanks. There is a cameo appearance by the real Sgt. Major Brittain who was famous in the British guards regiments.