Last Movie Wactched - "Wing and a Prayer"

[Marv Soloff]

"Wing and a Prayer" (US - 1944) Directed by Henry Hathaway from Jerome
Cady's screenplay. Cast includes Dana Andrews, Don Ameche, Charles
Bickford and Sir Cedric Hardwicke. From WIKI: Wing and a Prayer (also
known as The Story of Carrier X) is a black-and-white 1944 war film
about the heroic crew of an American carrier in the desperate early days
of World War II in the Pacific theater. Although arguably a classic
propaganda movie, it was appreciated for its very realistic portrayal
and was nominated for the 1944 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay."

Aside from the very one dimensional portrayals by all of the primary
cast, I managed to get through about thirty minutes of this film. The
real shipboard footage was fascinating; the studio shots so bad I fell
asleep. I have no idea what happens to this group at the battle of
Midway or how the film ended. A wasted two hours.

Marv

[Pjk]

Then you missed one of the best aspects of the film. There is very
little footage of aerial combat. Instead the crew, many of who have
formed friendships with the pilots, simply listen to the fighting over
the ship's radio piped over the intercom. They cheer when someone they
know reports shooting down an enemy plane, but are quiet when they
hear one of their own pilots says that he is hit then crashes.

There is one scene when the camera focuses on the hydronic tomatos.

Pjk