Eagle Squadron (1942)

An American joins the British Royal Air Force just before Pearl Harbor is attacked, and falls in love with a beautiful English girl.

Director:

Arthur Lubin

Writers:

C.S. Forester (story), Norman Reilly Raine

Stars:

Robert Stack, Diana Barrymore, Jon Hall

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Stack	...	Chuck S. Brewer
Diana Barrymore	...	Anne Partridge
Jon Hall	...	Hank Starr
Eddie Albert	...	Leckie
Nigel Bruce	...	McKinnon
Evelyn Ankers	...	Nancy Mitchell
Leif Erickson	...	Johnny M. Coe
John Loder	...	Paddy Carson
Edgar Barrier	...	Wadislaw Borowsky
Isobel Elsom	...	Dame Elizabeth Whitby
Alan Hale Jr.	...	Olsen
Don Porter	...	Ramsey
Frederick Worlock	...	Grenfall
Stanley Ridges	...	Air Minister
Gene Reynolds	...	The kid

Storyline

An American joins the British Royal Air Force just before Pearl Harbor is attacked, and falls in love with a beautiful English girl.

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Plot Keywords:

world war two | airplane | pilot | deep focus

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Taglines:

DEVILS OF THE SKIES! Uncle Sam's Boys in the EAGLE SQUADRON (original print ad - many caps)

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Genres:

War | Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 June 1942 (USA)

Also Known As:

Esquadrão de Águias

Filming Locations:

Portuguese Bend, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

User Reviews

American flier learns what World War II is about

Robert Stack makes a pretty good typically brash young American who joins the Eagle Squadron (a unit of American fliers within the British RAF) for all the typically wrong reasons. He meets a beautiful WAAF officer played by Diana Barrymore, who has a different, more adult view of the war against Nazi Germany. At the time of the film it was basically an air war. Britain was being heavily bombed and the Eagle Squadron fliers (and of course the rest of the RAF) were fighting back.

The motion picture is typically campy — mostly deliberate "high" camp. Stack's character would probably have called some of it "corny."

But it is an important picture for the same reason that many of World War II films, many of them not much above the B movie level — many in it — are because it can teach the viewer something about the people who watched the film(s) at or near the times of issue. A very large percentage of the population of this country watched motion pictures of this type and most realized that some at least were pretty campy and most, if they involved Americans in important roles, reflected a somewhat higher standard than most of us, who although professing it, could attain.

Many in the 1940s believed that World War II was a fight — the fight — for freedom; a fight, in the language the day, to make the world safe for democracy. Surprisingly, when viewed from this distance, many people believed that and some in fact still do.

Our hero — a very young Robert Stack — eventually figures all all out. No comment here on just how he does it.