Men of the Fighting Lady

One look at the opening of this movie lets you know thta is not the work of MGM boss Louis B Mayer but his replacement Dore Schary whose job was to cut costs and make profits which MGM had stopped doing, leading in grosses but last in profits. Schary brought his penchant for reality with him starting with Battleground and once more here again. The star of the first is the star of the latter and by that I mean Van Johnson. This movie is about the Korean war which in the movie is referred to as a police action because an official war was never declared. True story taken from the Saturday Evening Post tells the tale of bomber planes on a Naval tanker during the war. It is very matter of fact with little plot but the lives of the men and their difficulty destroying a rail track that just seems to get rebuilt every time. Walter Pidgeon provides good support as the commander and everyone else is just fine and a thirty minute rescue scene is so impressive, it makes you wonder if this people had not been watching the Europen movies; the droll delivery, the spacial pacing, the voice over that is a third character, the actual footage of attacks because any attack or firing is actual footage. Fine movie all around that needs to be seen by more.

A thirty-ish Van Johnson as Lt. Howard Thayer is excellent in his talk-talk scenes with the blinded pilot, his friend Ken. Johnson's character is confined in the fighter pilot's seat, encased in flight gear and helmet, with the actor having only his voice and facial expressions to convey his depth of concern. The flying sequences have been very positively reviewed by veterans on a fighter pilots information sharing website, Korean War veterans sharing website, and military movie catalog website; always noted to be realistic. Actors dialog in the talk-down scene was transcribed from the actual pilots radio transmissions, with very few exceptions (actual is posted online). Bombing scenes are actual, but not graphic compared to modern special effects scenes. Should not be disturbing to younger viewers. Not a celebration of war, this film deals with loss of pilots lives, it's effect on friends and family. Touching but not soapy or sorrowful. The film has variety of action, and keeps moving along well. Noted to be the best Korean War action film, and Carrier film ever produced.

The real stars of this movie are the beautiful Grumman F9F Panther jets that we get to see launching from and landing on the carrier. The plot is mildly interesting, but nothing special. It is based on a story written by James Michener for the Saturday Evening Post. "The Bridges At Toko Ri" which was released the following year starring William Holden, Grace Kelly and Mickey Rooney is a more compelling story of carrier jet pilots in Korea, but Men of the Fighting Lady has better footage of the planes themselves. This movie does help you appreciate the very real dangers faced by pilots landing jets on pitching carrier decks. As the admiral in The Bridges at Toko Ri put it, "Where do we get such men?"

One of the finest of the Korea War films with dramatic airfights , following the hazardous exploits of a carrier and its crew . This action/adventure/War story is dedicated to the remarkable men who run the machines of war . It is based in events published in the Saturday Evening Post under the titles ¨The Forgotten Heroes of Korea¨ by James Michener and ¨The Case of the Blind Pilot¨ by commander Harry A. Burn USN. Regarding a famous writer , Louis Calhern as James A Michener , visits an aircraft carrier during the Korean war to learn more about it and the way it's run. He also gets to find out more about the Navy and Marine aviators themselves , their internal and external conflicts and dangers of their job . Torn out of a tortured sky !. M-G-M presents the heroic story of what happened to the Men of the Fighting Lady ! .No man is an island , entire of itself.. Any man´s death dimininishes me because I am involved in mankind and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls -it tolls for thee -John Donne.

A Korean war drama movie with flag-waging American sentiment , thrills , emotion , dangerous aerial scenes , occasional drama , battle scenes and a lot of stock footage . Features the stories of selected pilots stationed on a US aircraft carrier in the Pacific during the Korean war . The stories told to Louis Calhern as writer James A Michener , centering around pilot Van Johnson and standing out his feat in which he helps a blinded Dewey Martin land his aircraft safely on the carrier deck . This is a powerful film competently directed by Andrew Marton and it displays extremely realistic aerial sequences , in fact this picture was made with the cooperation of the department of Defense and the United States Navy , with particular appreciation to Commander Air Force , US Pacific fleet and the officers and men of his command . This exciting and thrilling film focus on the group of pilots and their perilous missions on their planes . Gene Ruggerio's editing of the war footage was so expertly made that he was even questioned by the Pentagon when they had a hard time believing the scenes were achieved by skillful mountage and painted backdrops . This Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1954) production is a hell of a war movie , combining with some effective quiter moments . It is plenty of riveting technical detail and there's richly rounded support cast . There's also also an introspective real guy interfacing by the ensemble cast , as well as a nice group of actors giving fiercely well-defined portrayals of pilots and soldiers under stress , being masterfully played by a lot of familiar faces , such as : Van Johnson , Walter Pidgeon, Louis Calhern , Keenan Wynn , Frank Lovejoy, Robert Horton , Bert Freed , among others, and look for 'Beaver' Jerry Mathers as one of Keenan Wynn's sons.

It displays a moving and rousing musical score by classic composer Miklós Rózsa . It's all topped off with the vividly charming cinematography which typified the Korean war period from director of photography George Folsey . This propaganda and agreeable picture was professionally directed by Andrew Marton , and there this great filmmaker creates some nice aerial action scenes , as it has worn well through the years , in spite of the extremely jingoist and patriotist yarn . Marton's filmmaking is masterly in its economy , power and pace . Craftsman director Marton made a lot of films in all kind of genres and creating good works . Marton was a specialist on Wartime movies, such as : ¨The thin red line¨also based on James A. Michener movie , ¨The longest day ¨and adventure movies as ¨African Texas style¨, ¨Around the world under the sea¨, ¨Clarence , the cross-eyed lion¨, and ¨King Salomon's mines¨(1950) co-directed by Compton Bennett and Andrew Marton directed the second unit , he then was tasked with replacing Compton Bennett as director after the latter had been taken ill . One of his more prestigious assignments came about by chance to lay in some excellent work as second-unit director , notably in charge of the chariot race for William Wyler's ¨Ben-Hur¨ (1959), as well as of the Normandy invasion sequences for the World War II in the sensational ¨The Longest day¨(1942) . After his contract with MGM expired in 1954, Marton founded his own production company in conjunction with fellow Hungarian émigrés Ivan Tors and Laslo Benedek . He later concentrated on TV adventure series, helming the pilots, respectively for "Daktari" (1966) and "Cowboy in Africa" . Men of the Fighting Lady (1954) rating : 6.5/10 , better than average.

Surprisingly enough, most of the action scenes were from real wartime footage which is incorporated very well, its reality adds to the suspense instead of subtracting. The fact that James Michener is one of the characters makes it more interesting, but there's just too much talk about bravery and duty to make this film really shine. Well worth watching, good stars, but not above the routine.