The Flying Missile

The film is worth watching for Viveca Lindfors, who plays the most important part, in cajoling a war invalid back to life. That's the only human part of this war chronicle. It's all about testing missiles, and both Glenn Ford and Viveca Lindfors are agreed that this missle business is just awful, they just heartily dislike it, and so does her uncle. Still they go through with the project, Viveca losing her job in the bargain and Glenn ending up a cripple, but the interesting bit is how he returns to life in spite of his bitterness, total frustration and sense of guilt because of the loss of the life of his closest mate, for which he blames himself, and he is not altogether wrong in doing so. One small mistake in precarious ventures like this, and it can all go to blazes, which it does, but Viveca saves the situation. It's a rather humdrum ordinary cliché-kind sort of chronicle of no special interest, while you have to admit that Viveca Lindfors at least is beautiful.

It Never Ceases to Amaze.

The Parade of Never-Ending Boasting from the Governmental Influence on Hollywood in the Post-WWII Years.

Taking Victory-Lap After Victory-Lap at the Expense of Good Taste and Humility.

Yes We (the Allies) Defeated Evil in Another Us vs Them Slaughter for the Sake of Saving Humanity from Itself.

We Won the War...Hurrah.

A Good Example of the Hollywood Unbridled Assault on Movie-Goer Sensibility and Tolerance,

is those Prolog "Government is Your Friend" Embarrassments that got Tacked-On Otherwise Good Movies.

Some "Authority Figure" Reading from Cue-Cards About this and that to Pacify and Glorify.

Back to this Movie.

It is a Forgotten-Film and Deserves the Neglect.

Wasting Glen Ford and other Valuable Resources the Movie Plays-Out Like a Military Training Short.

Void of Creativity and Any Entertainment Value.

File this One in the Dust-Bin of Hollywood History with those Other Obsoletes.

Because this Contains Absolutely Nothing Worth Anyone's Time..

Disapline in theUSA non existent ado as you like on atop secret base What a waste of a great cast and a show up for the USA forces Walt Disney where were you

I don't know about you, but I always found Glenn Ford a rather dull actor to watch. He wasn't bad, just unremarkable - and this maritime adventure sort of confirms that. He is a determined (bolshy) US Naval Commander who is convinced of the merits of launching missiles from submarines - despite scepticism from the upper echelons - and so sets out to coax, cajole and bulldoze his theories through. Viveca Lindfors "Karin" provides the love interest, and indirectly some of the conflict as her father is a devout pacifist. The end result is never in jeopardy and to a certain extent the film smacks of willy-waving at the Soviets in the immediate (1950) aftermath of WWII - with scant regard to fact. I tend to like submarine adventure films (usually because they are exciting and there is normally an absence of slushy love scenes) but this doesn't really satisfy either of my criteria and so whilst it's not rotten, it's almost as bad - it's bland.

Of course McHale's Navy didn't appear until over a decade after this movie was made, but there are elements of this movie that remind me of McHale's Navy...stealing supplies, crewmen horsing around. The attempts at comedy were largely unsuccessful however.

This movie involves the implementation of Commander Talbot's (Glenn Ford) vision of missiles being launched from submarines. And he, and his crew, go through major contortions (a la McHale's Navy style) to get this accomplished. Of course, while so occupied, romance intervenes. And the girl's (Viveca Lindfors) father is a major stumbling block. He is a pacifist who is strongly against the commander's efforts.

Although slow moving, this film is still quite watchable. The acting is fair and the story is reasonable. It is obviously pro-military and I'm sure heartily embraced by the Dept. of Defense. For the amount of money which appears to have been spent on this production...very little...it turned out fairly well.

Although this is not a war movie per se, fans of WW2 era material will probably enjoy this one. My vote: 6 out of 10.

This film is in my 16mm collection and is quite old with various splices which makes it difficult to do a decent technical analysis. Additionally 16mm films are generally limited to mono sound tracks and substandard sound fidelity. If this film is available on video or DVD, I am unaware of it.