Parachute Battalion

It's debatable if this qualifies as a propaganda film as such . According to this website PARACHUTE BATTALION was released in September 1941 three months before Pearl Harbor . That said the winds of war had been blowing in America's direction for two years so Americans must have known it was coming and what better to raise morale than a patriotic flag waver showing good old American boys becoming airborne warriors ?

Actually this movie must have taken place in some alternative universe because while Western Europe had been conquered by Nazi Germany , Britain had been bombed and the Soviet Union was engaged in the first stages of a war of total annihilation with the Nazis the American response was to form a parachute battalion composed of drunks , small town hicks and football jocks

With all due respect to Simon Jack who has written an interesting review on this page it's impossible to take this film seriously now . In fact I'd be hard pressed to think anyone would have taken it seriously at the time ! From what I learned from PARACHUTE BATTALION jump school is composed of a senior citizen in his late 60s standing in front of some back projection telling a bunch of recruits who slouch around with their hands in their pockets how to jump out of a plane . It's easy to scoff at all this and The Hays Code was in full swing but there's very little that resembles realism . In fact it comes across as so light hearted and unrealistic you can't help wondering if it's a propaganda film that's been produced by the Germans !

It's another standard story of raw recruits undergoing training, falling in love with the same girl, etc.etc. This time Robert Preston gets first billing, but there's also Edmond O' Buddy Ebsen, and Richard Cromwell, and Nancy Kelly for them to compete over as they undergo training as paratroopers under Harry Carey and Paul Kelly. You've seen it before, you'll see it again, even if Ebsen gets to do some eccentric dancing near the end. The real 501 Parachute Battalion takes part in the big drop sequence towards the end.

Bill Burke (Edmond O'Brien) got drunk and enlisted. Don Morse (Robert Preston) is an All-American football player. Jeff Hollis (Buddy Ebsen) is a hillbilly. All three are headed to Fort Benning, Georgia for jump school. On the train, they meet Kit Richards (Nancy Kelly) and her father Bill "Old Thunderhead" Richards (Harry Carey) who turns out to be their master sergeant.

This is a bit of military showcase which was released three months before Pearl Harbor. The tone would get more serious in the world after this. Don't get me wrong. This is sincere in its appreciation of the military. In the opening, the film acknowledges the co-operation of the 501st parachute battalion. The soldiers are making real jumps. This is an interesting look at the pre-war American military. Otherwise, there isn't much here.

Just before the US entered WWII, quite a few patriotic films were made by Hollywood showcasing the various duties of its armed forces. Some (such as "Caught in the Draft" and "Buck Privates") were comedies others were not ("Dive Bomber" and "I wanted Wings"). But all were films with a message--it's patriotic and important to become part of these fighting units. "Parachute Battalion" is such a film and it debuted several months before Pearl Harbor.

The film is about a small group of men who volunteer for the paratroopers. Not surprisingly, it's a scary proposition jumping out of airplanes and the film shows their progress through this school. There are four fellows in particular that they showcase: a brash All-American football player (Robert Preston), the son of the base commander who is keeping his identity secret from his follow soldiers (Edmond O'Brien), comic relief (Buddy Ebsen) and a guy scared out of his wits (Richard Cromwell). All must prove themselves as they progress through camp.

So why did I score such a routine with a very high score of 8? One reason is that the men are NOT uniformly perfect--one clearly cracks up and another is close. Such fallibility probably would have NOT been in the film had it been made once the US was in the war--and it adds to the realism. But the biggest reason I liked the film is that little stock footage was used and what was used fit seamlessly into the movie. All too often, crappy, grainy footage is shoved into such films--but here you actually see the actors doing much of the work. Overall, it is an interesting little film--and a nice chance to see a young Edmond O'Brien in an early starring role.

This curious movie, which seems to be part documentary and part drama, tells of three individuals who have signed up for a parachute battalion. This film almost gives the VIEWER a heads up on what it takes to train to drop your parachute. Everything from Jumping exercises to height practice to even detailed instruction on how to pack a parachute! Oh yeah, two of the squad have a bit of a spat over a girl, but the main plot is about the training. What's so curious is that the film was made with the National Paratroopers Batallion in America, but shows some curious habits of the paratroopers that almost put them in a bad light. I'm talking of course of the captain pushing off a scared paratrooper off a plane for his solo flight, and another scene where another scared paratrooper pulls a gun on the plane (!!) and tells them HE'S NOT JUMPING!! Anyways, that's all forgotten of course, because any film that has Buddy Ebsen dancing and doing comedy is fine by me J