If Shakespeare’s words, “This above all: to Thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man,” have any poignant significance to your life, then the film Chariots of Fire will resonate deeply within your heart.

During the 1980s, Dave Putnam, the British producer, produced some extraordinary films, the likes of which are rare today. This was one of his best.

Chariots of Fire is a study of integrity. It shows us a world where if a man holds a belief, he will honour that belief as a matter of principle, even if it means risking the reward he has his sights firmly fixed on.

If you long to engage your mind and emotions in a world of meaningful benevolence, then watch this film again.

The gentle Scot, Eric Liddell, a Calvinist missionary who runs for the sheer beauty of “feeling the Lord’s pleasure,” is how he terms it. A man of monumental integrity. We may take issue with his superstitious beliefs about God and the Sabbath, but never was the idea of integration so simply portrayed as through this man. He practised what he preached, and stuck to his principles, even though it would mean not competing in the Olympic Games he had travelled to France to run in. But the world proves to be true to him, and he is given his opportunity according to terms that meet with his own approval.

The character of Abrams, a Jew raised to be a fine Englishman, exhibits the sense of life I admire the most. Fiercely competitive, assertive, deep, cultured, soulful and supremely self confident, winning means everything to his kind of man. His intense nature is thoroughly loved (and even admired) by his fellow Cambridge chums. At the age of just 24, he is most definitely a man in every sense of the word, and is quick to remind people if they treat him as anything else.

This film is a tribute to a sense of life that nurtures honour at its very core. It seems to sadly belong to an era that is now bygone. These men have an incredibly strong sense of camaraderie between them which naturally accepts human nature to be a fine thing, and a thing to be built on and tested. Even when Abrams, with his exuberant enthusiasm, sets about to wooing the woman of his dreams, an actress, but inadvertently gets in ahead of his friend who is shyer by nature, the result is a gracious sense of acceptance, rather than anything bitter or maliciously accusing.

The film culminates in the exquisitely beautiful hymn “Jerusalem” which owes its lyrics to the great poet William Blake. The hymn enhances the film’s overarching theme of glory so, well, gloriously.

The only slight let-down is the very 80’s soundtrack composed by Vangelis, but I found it easy to see past this, and anyway, it actually fits in a funny kind of way.

If you never got to see this film, give yourself the treat of watching it. If you did see it many years ago, I urge you to see it again and be moved by the sense of life it is an anthem to.

My parents took me to see this film when I was just 11 years old. It made a huge impression on me and has stayed with me ever since. I remember feeling at the time, those are my kind of men. Disappointingly, I've never found them (apart from one who is gay). But when all is said and done, thank Man Almighty for great works of art! Actually, in this case, I want to thank Dave Putnam.