Saturday, September 19, 2009

Thunder Birds (1942)

Thunder Birds (1942) This film was made to boost civilian morale at the time when World War II was still much in doubt. Directed by William A. Wellman, who was himself a member of the U.S. Air Service and a World War one fighter pilot. Gene Tierney (Kay), who is absolutely beautiful, added playfulness and maturity to the role she played. This is a "war movie" that never sees a battlefield but centers on the training of enlisted men. British John Sutton is sent to America to be trained to fly for the RAF but he has to try and over come his acrophobia. His instructor Steve is supportive and proves to be a great friend when others want him out. Their friendship becomes shaky when Sutton falls for the local girl Kay that Steve has long been dating. The film love triangle is so effective that you do not notice the real message of the film. My favorite scene in the movie is when Steve buzzes an old elevated water tank in the desert in which Kay Saunders is swimming. His plane causes her robe to blow away. Showing off, Steve flies inverted over the tank and drops her his flying coveralls then lands on a nearby dirt road. She seems miffed at him for reasons in their romantic past as much as his fly by...but responds to his passionate kiss.
Cast: Gene Tierney, Preston Foster, John Sutton.

9 comments:

  1. Dawn, I've never seen this movie, or heard of it. I like movies about our military before the start of World War II. From the standpoint of history, it is interesting to see the attitudes toward war in Europe and our own disinvolvement in the eyes of most people. This sounds like a fun movie as well, and I'd like to see it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gene Tierney swimming and losing her robe...that sounds like reason enough to see this movie! But seriously, the focus on preparing our soldiers--as opposed to being an actual war movie--gives the plot a different spin. Like Becky, I've never seen it, but I love Ms. Tierney.

    ReplyDelete
  3. http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi921502233

    this link will take you to the film
    THUNDER BIRDS

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rick and Becky the Fox Movie Channel runs this film all the time.

    ReplyDelete
  5. OK, Paul, first you mention "Maverick" on one of the Encore channels and now that you have the Fox Movie Channel, too. I'm surprised Sark didn't pile on about NetFlix. And poor ol' Rick just has TCM and AMC... At least, Dawn sent me the Hulu info.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Poor Baby, But look at all the classic TV show DVD's you have that I don't. Still has not helped much with the trivia answers has it? LOL

    ReplyDelete
  8. Rick just for the record I have 6 Encores MGM HD, Sundance , 2 The Independent Film Channel , 2 FX, 7 HBO,s and3 TCMs . As Will Sonnet would say." No Braging Just Facts" LOL

    ReplyDelete