5.0
Eight fighter pilots hold off constant Japanese attacks during the construction of an airstrip in New Guinea.
Kristine Miller
Jean Gillis
Arthur Franz
Lt. 'Mace' Willard
Ross Ford
Maj. Skipper Wright
Tommy Noonan
Lt. 'Ham' Hamilton (as Tom Noonan)
Gene Reynolds
Lt. Marion Minor
Richard Jaeckel
Lt. Dick Carter
Mickey Knox
Lt. Louie Rasti
Harry Lauter
Lt. Derby
William Murphy
Lt. Johnny Murphy
G. Pat Collins
Sgt. Hanley
Director
Joseph M. Newman
Adaptation
Robertson White
Screenplay
Francis Swann
Story
William Bowers
January 8, 2023
5
This starts out with a degree of promise. A group of war-weary soldiers are facing overwhelming odds as they try to defend a remote island airstrip from the invading Japanese. "Mace" (Arthur Franz) commands this group of brave men but sadly, for the plot, he soon becomes romantically embroiled with a visiting forces entertainer "Jean" (Kristine Miller) and at this point the score turns all violin-led and the plot deteriorates into a rather soppy melodrama that rather negates the courageous story that we started with. It was obviously made for domestic consumption to bolster post-war audiences, but somehow the lightweight cast and rather wordy dialogue drown out what action scenes there actually are, leaving us with some interesting audio descriptions of the dogfighting overhead - and they sound authentic enough - but with little else. It's decently enough produced, but is little better than a standard afternoon B-feature that passes the time all too slowly.
Status:
Released
Original Language:
English
Budget:
$0.00
Revenue:
$0.00