Charting man's complicated journey towards and mastery over flight, this fascinating film uses both drama and documentary footage to present a highly cinematic account of the evolution of aviation, encompassing early experiments in automated flight, the development of bombers and aircraft carriers, and the earliest experiments in vertical rotary flight.

A project initiated in 1935 by Alexander Korda as a potential collaboration with Winston Churchill, The Conquest of the Air was produced in fits and starts over the following five years – eventually being released in 1940 as a propaganda film to help the war effort both here and in America. The film is featured here in a brand-new transfer from original film elements in its as-exhibited aspect ratio.