More than a quarter century has passed since Hope and Glory (1987), John Boorman’s excellent autobiographical film of his childhood in the London blitz. Now we gratefully receive “Queen and Country”, a sequel of seamless tonal consistency. Although smaller in scale and significance than Hope and Glory, it still benefits from Boorman’s vision of the British character as essentially decent, practical and life-affirming.

It is 1952, and Bill Rohan (Callum Turner) is now 18 and must serve 2 years in the Army, like other British boys, and may even be sent to fight in Korea. The 9-year old we remember from the earlier film is now a tall, pleasant-looking youth with a quietly genial manner. Somehow this results in his being made sergeant. But instead of fighting the enemy, he is assigned to teach typing to new recruits with his friend Percy (Caleb Landry Jones), who is as defiantly rambunctious as Bill is passive. Their lives are made miserable by the unit director, Sergeant Bradley (David Thewlis, priceless), who suffered severe psychological damage in the war. Further complicating things is Private Redmond (Pat Shortt), their subordinate, a slacker-artist of the first order. The story follows Bill and Percy’s bumpy relationship – co-conspirators in their disdain for the army, but rivals in love – until Bill’s return to civilian life with his parents, with a hint of the director’s future film career.

Boorman smoothly controls the dual narrative. Bill lets Percy drag him into pursuing two nurses they met at a concert, even though he is blindingly entranced by a mysterious blond beauty (Tamsin Egerton) who, though she refuses to tell him her name, pulls him along tantalizingly. Bill decides to call her Ophelia, which amuses her. She visits Bill when he is staying with his parents and older sister, Dawn (Vanessa Kirby, gloriously lewd), while on leave, but says she can’t stay to watch Elizabeth II’s coronation on TV, dumbfounding the entire group. But her secret life is soon exposed, devastatingly, leaving Bill emotionally crushed until comforted, and ultimately deflowered, by Sophie (Aimee-Ffion Edwards), the very nurse he had ignored earlier, who had become Percy’s girlfriend instead.

The other narrative line follows the prank theft of an antique clock, a holy relic to their unbearably rigid commander. Bill doesn’t participate, but lets Percy and Redmond pull off the job, which they all take delicious enjoyment in. When the scheme is discovered, however, Bill learns about the often painful demands of friendship.

Part of the pleasure in the army hi-jinks story – which I admit is a little too long – is remembering the wonderful British army comedies of the 50s and 60s, like A Coming Out Party. The performances of David Thewlis and Richard E. Grant, as the martinet commander, are funny, yet skillfully shaded. Boorman doesn’t want us to enjoy their eventual humiliation too much; the hurt is made too real for that. Similarly, the lessons from the failed romance, while a film lover’s delight, are not always pain-free. After all, Boorman is remembering his very own pain here, though in a forgivingly dim light.

The performances are fresh and nimble, as they nearly always are in Boorman’s films. Dawn’s earthy but charming sexuality – with hints of taboo lust for her brother – never tips into vulgarity. Bill’s hapless infatuation is wittily shown, with the gorgeous Ophelia bathed in other-worldly colors. While the scene where Bill loses his virginity is gracefully done, it could have used the sly, zesty touch of a Mike Nichols (how I will miss him!) or Almodovar.

Despite its pleasures, this is a slighter film than its epic predecessor. Missing is the sense of an ordeal shared by an entire population, one that changes the very nature of society. The coronation, much less Korea, are not signposts of lasting significance for the British people. What we have, in sum, is a loving scrapbook; buoyant and wise, but stripped of the darker tones of that era. But then it had to end when it did. In only two years, the young Boorman would see his country savagely humiliated in Suez, an event of national redefinition. Yes, better to keep the glow of innocence while you still can.