After Robert Donat's character is seemingly killed in the World War I film watched by the recruits, Harry Fyfe quips, "He didnae die at all. He's comin' here next week in 'Young Mr. Pitt'."
'The New Lot' was made as an Army training film but its downbeat message wasn't liked by the Army so Ustinov remade it commercially (where the Army had no control) as 'The Way Ahead'