24 Hour Alert

Warner Bros. And the United States Air Force make a bit of propaganda for public consumption. It is about thirty minutes. Actor Jack Webb visits a fictional military commander. There are noise complaints from the local mayor and much of the public.

This actually got an Oscar nomination. There are lots of 50's era American warplanes. The footage is up close and personal. The filming probably doesn't get much better than this for the public. The flying is absolutely amazing. It's super cool. It is Top Gun Plus. The other amazing part is seeing all these old silver beauties parked on the tarmac.

Outstanding aerial shots of 1950's USAF fighter jets. If you like warplanes, this little gem of a movie is an absolute must see.

Great narration by Jack Webb. This film honors those who served in the USAF back in the Cold War 1950's. There are no combat scenes, but there is plenty of aerial action.

At the end, there is extensive high quality footage of a 1950's USAF air show. B-52's, F-100's, B-47's, early C-130's, and F-86's. The highlight was the Pre-Thunderbirds USAF aerial demonstration team called the Sabre Knights.

Never heard of this short movie. But it was great.

Jack Webb did a great job honoring the USAF.

Oscar-nominated short film, a Walt Disney co-production distributed by Warner Bros., honoring the military forces that keep us safe from enemy harm--at the expense of families living in homes located around the noisy air bases. Jack Webb tours one such location (in sunny Millville, possibly standing in for Southern California's March Air Force Base), filled with Tigers--"a nice bunch of kids"--which has come under fire for its particular flight patterns. Narrating in his halting, somber style, Webb (courtesy screenwriters Beirne Lay Jr. and Richard L. Breen) makes melodramatic observations about the aircraft, the pilots, and the controllers as if the country were on the verge of World War III (one presumes to belittle the complaints of mothers down below who can't get their babies to sleep because of the passing jets). Not particularly well-executed, the 30-minute film is both awkward and naïve, a showcase for the military advancement in decimating entire towns. *1/2 from ****

24 Hour Alert (1955)

** (out of 4)

This short from Warner runs 31-minutes for some reason and it also picked up an Oscar nomination for some reason. Jack Webb appears as himself and also narrates as he talks about a U.S. Air Force base that is coming under attack by local residents who are unhappy over all the noise that the jets are making. Webb goes with the some experts as they talk to the people and see if they can come to some sort of understanding since the work of the jets are so important. Um, yeah, I'm really not sure what the entire point of this film was but it's certainly a strange little picture. I'd be lying if I said it was any good in regards to entertainment but I'll at least give it credit for being well made. The entire subject matter is just so bland and boring that it's impossible to really care about anything going on. I'm sure those who enjoy watching jets in motion should at least get some mild entertainment out of that. The only great thing in the film is its WarnerColor, which looks downright terrific. Seriously, the colors are so remarkable that it really does seem as if you're watching some sort of animated movie.

I am watching 24 Hour Alert right now on TCM. Jack Webb stars in and narrates this documentary style short film about a fictional town that wants the nearby temporary Air Force base to move. The locals don't like the noise the jets make. There are numerous 1950s jets shown in action and they are really the stars of this tribute to the Air Force and the great work it does protecting the country. Jack gets to go for a ride in a T-33 trainer with the base commander as pilot and gets to see what a jet can do. An uncredited role is the film is "2nd pilot in ready room" with Gordon Cooper as that pilot. I don't know if that is the Gordon Cooper who later became an astronaut. 24 Hour Alert is only 31 minutes long and is well worth a look, especially if you are interested in vintage aircraft.