Air Cadet

Rock Hudson certainly looks older than his age and has the maturity of someone at least in his 30's. There's no question about it, the man is tall, dark and handsome, and there's real depth to his emotions and facial expression. He does have a rich, silky voice.

Apart from seeing Rock Hudson in a small role, most of the actors in "Air Cadet" are second-tier--the sort of guys you might have seen but whose names you cannot remember. Yet, despite this, the film is quite good....and it got better and less formulaic as it progressed.

The first portion is about a small group of men who enter flight training school with the US Air Force. Despite the film being made in 1951, no mention is made of the Korean War which had just begun. Instead, it's a pretty straight forward account of what it's like to go through such training.

The second portion is about three of these men who then go on to train in flying jet fighters. Here, however, the story becomes less general and more centers on one cadet and his personality class with the Major....who seems bent on washing him out of training.

For airplane nuts like myself, seeing the F-80 and T-33 two-seat trainer was a nice treat. Others might not care....but hopefully the story (which is reasonably well written) is enough to keep their attention. Worth seeing.

The United States Air Force was only 5 years old when Air Cadet was made. Shortly after the Air Force would be fighting its first war in Korea as a separate service.

The film was dated by 1954 when the Air Force Academy was founded in Colorado Springs by act of Congress. Until then what you see here is how pilots were made.

Air Cadet follows the story of four enlistees Robert Arthur, Richard Long, Alex Nicol and James Best and their time in training. The main plot line involves Richard Long and his infatuation with the separated wife of his training officer Gail Russell. Said training officer Stephen McNally isn't quite ready to let Russell go and therein lies the plot.

Aviation buffs will like the training scenes with the latest in planes in 1951. The aerial shooting is well done and nicely integrated into the story.

Rock Hudson is in this film as an upper classman whomakes our cadets especially Robert Arthur jump. Alex Nicol was the most interesting character, a veteran infantryman from World War II who wants a taste of the glamour that pilots had in the last war. I wish we had more of him.

I'm sure Air Cadet was a fine tool for recruitment for the newest of our Armed Services.

This could almost be a training/recruitment exercise for the US Air Force as we follow the rather contrived relationship between "Maj. Page" (Stephen McNally), his independently-minded student "Ross" (Richard Long) and his estranged wife and new friend of his amorous young pupil "Janet" (Gail Russell). There is some fine aerial photography here, early jet aircraft put through their paces - bit the story and acting are very disjointed. It can't quite decide whether it's about the science, the disciplined training or the romance - and as a result it all rather misfires leaving us with a rather dull experience. It does give us the briefest of illustrations as to just how green some of these would-be pilots were - best exemplified by Alex Nicol's barely started shaving "Joe", but the rivalry between the two leading roles is too manufactured and Russell injects little by way of charisma into her role before a conclusion that I felt distinctly predictable - and sentimental. Maybe worth a watch for the planes - and an early outing for Rock Hudson, but not for much else, sorry.

The plot is predictable, especially considering the film is, for all intents and purposes, a recruiting film. It's also a thinly veiled rework of the earlier Berne Lay script, "I Wanted Wings." As a matter of fact, the barracks interior scenes at Randolph AFB, early in the film, utilize the same sets used for the aforementioned 1941 classic. The neat thing is the combination of aircraft and "actors" - the T-33 two-seat jet trainers are some of the earliest models, prior to the installation of ejection seats. There is also a liberal sprinkling of single-seat F-80s used throughout as well. For the flight gear aficionado, the pilots wear the first production "hard hats," the P-1 helmet. Among the actors are actual USAF personnel. Future Mercury 7 astronaut Gus Grissom is mentioned in the IMDb listing as a cast member, but I'm going to have to watch it again to pick him out. More recognizable for me was Col. Leon Gray - he gives a speech to the new jet students about the sophistication of their aircraft, how it will "talk" to them. Gray was a highly decorated WWII veteran who flew photo reconnaissance P-38 Lightnings in the European theater. He went on to command one of the first P-80 squadrons at March Field, then took command of the first RF-80 (reconnaissance version of the Shoioting Star) wing in the USAF.

If you're an early jet nut, this movie is a "must have" in your collection.