Say, what kind of beat is that
Man, that really spins my hat
Doesn’t sound like boogie woogie,
‘Cause it’s really got a beat.
In All Through the Night, Humphrey Bogart plays a New Yorker with underworld connections who battle Nazi saboteurs planning to sink a battleship.
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I originally watched Flight Command because it was one of Red Skelton‘s earliest movie roles — which is technically true; Red’s in the film as part of the Hellcats squadron, acting as the class clown, but he’s definitely a secondary character. Flight Command is primarily about a brash young pilot, Alan Drake (played by Robert Taylor) who’s recruited straight out of college to join the premier squad of Navy Hellcats. He has trouble fitting in at first, although the flight commander (played by a young and dashing Walter Pidgeon) tries to help — as does the commander’s wife (played by Ruth Hussey). There’s a suspected romantic triangle between Drake and the commander’s wife (which was only him trying to console her on the death of her brother) — but all turns out well in the end.
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The valet to the British ambassador in Turkey during WWII decides to improve his lot …. By selling his employer’s top-secret documents to the Nazis. This classic spy film stars James Mason. Based on the true story of Elyesa Bazna, one of the most famous spies of World War II. It was nominated for two Academy Awards®.
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An Allied flight commander and his successor run daylight bombing raids out of England. Directed by Henry King. Best supporting Oscar for Dean Jagger.Read More »Twelve O’Clock High
In The Hasty Heart, a group of Allied soldiers are recovering in a hospital of Burma, when a dour Scot is added to their ranks. The Scot is dying, unknown to himself. Can the soldiers and nurse reach out to him?
Destination Tokyo – In order to provide information for the 1st air raid over Tokyo, a U.S. submarine sneaks into Tokyo Bay & places a spy team ashore.
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The old adage says that you shouldn’t judge a book by its’ cover — and that goes for DVD cases as well. Judging from the DVD case, you would think that Thirty Seconds over Tokyo is starring Spencer Tracy — and you would be wrong. Spencer Tracy does appear, and he does a fine job portraying James Doolittle, the man behind the World War II raid on Tokyo. But the central character in this movie is pilot Ted Lawson. Van Johnson portrays him excellently. The movie breaks into three parts:
Sahara is, in short, an excellent movie — set in World War II, in the desert conflict, it involves a ragtag multi-national group of Allied soldiers (Humphrey Bogart, Bruce Bennett, Lloyd Bridges) as well as their Italian prisoner of war (played memorably by J. Carrol Naish) who come upon an oasis in the desert — a crumbling ruin.
The ruin has a cistern — not a well, but a storage place for water, that’s nearly dry. The GI’s no sooner find it than they’re surrounded by Nazi soldiers, who are dying of thirst — but are armed to the teeth.
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