A Yank in the R.A.F. (1941)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Henry King

Writers:

Darrell Ware (screenplay) and
Karl Tunberg (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

9 February 1942 (Sweden)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

ROLLICKING ROMANCE! GLORIOUS ADVENTURE! (original ad - all caps)

Plot:

Tyrone Power is a pilots' pilot, but he doesn't believe in anything beyond his own abilities. He gets...

Plot Keywords:

German Officer | German Soldier | Beautiful Woman | Nazi

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Tyrone Power	...	Tim Baker
Betty Grable	...	Carol Brown
John Sutton	...	Wing Commander Morley
Reginald Gardiner	...	Roger Pillby
Donald Stuart	...	Corporal Harry Baker
Ralph Byrd	...	Al
Richard Fraser	...	Thorndyke
Denis Green	...	Flight Lieutenant Redmond
Bruce Lester	...	Flight Lieutenant Richardson
Gilchrist Stuart	...	Wales
Lester Matthews	...	Group Captain
Frederick Worlock	...	Canadian Major
Ethel Griffies	...	Lady Fitzhugh
Fortunio Bonanova	...	Headwaiter
James Craven	...	Instructor

Also Known As:

The Eagle Flies Again (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #7276) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Australia:PG | Finland:(Banned) (1942-1946) | Finland:S

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The scenes with the Spitfires were filmed in the UK. The Spitfires were from 602 squadron under the command of Squadron Leader Sandy Johnstone who were resting in early 1941 in Scotland after fighting in the Battle of Britain.

Quotes:

Tim Baker: Well, I haven't looked at another girl since you left.
Carol Brown: Well, I've looked at other men.
Tim Baker: Maybe, but I'll bet you didn't look at them the same way you looked at me that first night in Kansas City. Remember?... You were going east, and I was going west; then we saw each other, and I was going east!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Biography: Betty Grable: Behind the Pin-up" (1995)

Soundtrack:

I've Been Working on the Railroad

Routine wartime romance starring a dashing Tyrone Power and a leggy Betty Gable in their only film together…

Tyrone Power stars as a cocky gum-chewing jerk of an American pilot who serves in RAF, while Betty Gable displays those famous legs in showgirl outfits as Tyrone's American ex-girlfriend. Meanwhile, a charismatic John Sutton wins Betty's affections as Tyrone performs bombing raid missions over Germany and pilots a Spitfire during the evacuation of Dunkirk. That's the whole plot in a nutshell.

The film is typical Hollywood propaganda made to convince American audiences to get involved in the Second World War. The Oscar-nominated visual effects of bombing raids and aerial dogfights are very dated and look extremely awkward to modern eyes. The songs sung by Betty and her fellow chorus girls are awful and instantly forgettable.

However, the film picks up interest in a single scene when Tyrone and his two fellow bombing pilots crash-land into Holland and make for the coast as the Germans invade the country that morning. Tyrone gives his usual impeccable performance here and has never looked handsomer in his late twenties. And Reginald Gardiner makes an interesting presence as Tyrone's friend and fellow pilot.

Unless you want to hear Tyrone Power sing "I've Been Working On the Railroad" during a bombing raid and see him perform a few amusing scenes with his arm in a sling, there's very little here to interest Tyrone Power fans. Betty Gable fans should be pleased considering the large amount of screen time she has.

A YANK IN THE RAF is a typical Hollywood wartime romance, but it would have been better and more entertaining if the film's plot mainly consisted of Tyrone and his fellow pilots stranded in Holland and fighting their way back to England as in the action-packed Errol Flynn war adventure, DESPERATE JOURNEY (1942).