jacobs-greenwood The beginning of the film introduces us to three characters we will come to know throughout the film: "Spence" (Richard Greene) is a rich bachelor who's passion is trick flying. However, for some reason he's hired a pilot "Sky" Kelly (Donald Stewart) who is in the back seat of the plane while Spence is helping another man do some trick flying over New York. The plane crashes and Kelly is held responsible, losing his pilot's license. Leaving the courtroom, Kelly's sister Sydney (Carla Lehmann) is upset and tries to get her brother to appeal the ruling, but Sky just wants to go away and hide. Sydney, who happens to be a reporter, decides to pursue Spence socially, perhaps to get him to confess to his complicity. However, she is found out when a society reporter catches them at Spence's cabin in the woods. Spence is disillusioned with Sydney, and discharges her without ever knowing that she is Sky's sister.Prior to Pearl Harbor, the United States aided Britain's war effort against Germany by supplying airplanes. These B-17s had to ferried across the Atlantic ocean, which was being coordinated by Canada (or all of the characters are Canadian to begin with, it was unclear to me). Poor bored Spence, out of a sense of adventure or perhaps even guilt, decides to join the effort by helping to fly the planes overseas. When he does some trick flying on his way into the base of operations, he is thought not serious enough to be accepted. Basil Radford, from several Alfred Hitchcock films plays the Captain in charge. Sullen, Spence happens into the flight training room and finds that Sky Kelly is the instructor. After a brief scuffle with Sky, Spence is hired to help because of a shortage of pilots and an abundance of planes to be ferried. Of course, they are assigned to the same plane.Sky and Spence fly a B-17 across the Atlantic. When they arrive at an airbase just outside London, Sky meets DeBorah (Betty Stockfeld), who's in the service, and is smitten. The two pilots ride with "Debbie" into town while Sky flirts, getting to know her better. They decide to have dinner together and Sky asks Spence if he would mind going to see his sister, who's working in London, to ask her to join them later. When Spence gets to the news office, he discovers that Sydney is Sky's sister. She's still upset with him (!) for the way he treated her (!) and has Spence throw out of her office. Later, outside the rendezvous place, Sky introduces his sister to Debbie and the three of them go into the club. Spence has gone there too and, though he sits at a remote table, is seen by Sydney while Debbie and Sky dance the night away. At the end of the evening, Sky has finally decided to ask Sydney to dance and, after he apologizes, they become fast friends. Then an air raid siren sounds and Debbie must leave to discharge her responsibilities. The others decide to go with her, after all Sydney's a reporter, and we get to see the horrors of what it was like living in London at the time when being bombed by Germany was a nightly occurrence (it looks like actual footage is used)Sky and Spence return to Canada and sign up as pilots in their Air Force. The date is July 14, 1941. After training et al, they return to London to find Debbie and Sydney who seem to have become friends as well. Also, coincidentally, the men find themselves working for a British Wing Commander (Sidney King) who just happens to be Debbie's brother (and a Lord). Their first mission is to fly to Berlin and destroy a plant which provides power to three German armament factories.Since this film is primarily propaganda, you can probably guess the outcome of the mission. Of course, there is some intrigue and some really AWFUL special effects, besides a bunch of grimaces made to look like acting. I have to say that out of all of the obscure films I've reviewed recently, this is one of the worst overall.

Neil Doyle Routine script, cardboard performances and a plot that is almost invisible gives one no excuse for recommending this RAF aviation drama of wartime England.Dimpled matinée idol RICHARD GREENE is incapable of stirring up any interest in what little plot there is. He's not entirely to blame since his role is extremely underwritten and devoid of any character. For those fascinated by glimpses of the Flying Fortresses in action, so be it. Actual bombing footage is about all the film offers in the way of any visual excitement.This is no more than a shabby programmer masquerading as an A movie at a time when these sort of stories about aviators on bombing missions over Germany were done with much more style and attention to detailed performances. None of the characters are anyone you could care about.The romance is clumsily handled and except for a few scenes of an actual bombing mission at the end, there is nothing to distinguish it from dozens of other routine service films. As a drama dealing with the RAF, it is inept and weak in characters and plot line.

Ross Durham It's difficult to find anything right about this movie. The major male supporting actor is an American who behaves like a 14-year-old, the male lead is an accomplished pilot who is made a navigator, and considering the demand for fighter pilots in Britain at the time that is ludicrous. Just as ludicrous is the idea that Berlin would be bombed in daylight in 1940 by a squadron of B-17's flown by British pilots - the British hated the B-17. During the raid, the gunners shoot down 4 German fighters (possible but highly unlikely, however scenes like this were not unusual in films made during the war years). On the way back from the raid the #2 engine is hit by flak, catches fire and the extinguisher doesn't work. The male lead then proceeds to climb onto the wing of the a/c while in the air, and does something or other (it's impossible to ascertain what) and puts out the fire. The concept of a person hanging onto the wing of a B-17 while it's in the air, particularly while over enemy territory, is so ridiculous as to be nothing but laughable. Factually, as I recall, all the Americans flying with the RAF during WW2 were in the Eagle Squadron, and all flying fighters...none were in bombers. If they had been, they'd not have been in B-17's.I like WW2 movies, but this one was really very, very bad. It's hard to imagine the most naive of viewers, even in those years, accepting any of this as other than a kid's comic book story, and a pretty poor one even for a 10-year-old.

dexter-10 This movie is a mixture of the B-17 Flying Fortress, an inane class struggle, and superficial love interests. The are some exceptional scenes of the damage caused during the first London blitz of World War Two, yet little more of interest. The real star of the film is the B-17, with a typical bombing raid over Berlin, a propaganda target for 1942. It is an interesting docudrama of the early B-17's use during the war, so early that the navigator uses celestial fixes. Don't bail out on this movie without seeing it first.