Winged Victory (1944)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

George Cukor

Writers:

Moss Hart (play)
Moss Hart (screenplay)

Release Date:

22 December 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

Pinky Scariano, Allan Ross, and Frankie Davis all join the Army Air Forces with hopes of becoming pilots...

Plot Keywords:

Pilot | Beautiful Woman | Based On Play

Cast

Lon McCallister	...	Frankie Davis (as Pvt. Lon McCallister)
Jeanne Crain	...	Helen
Edmond O'Brien	...	Irving Miller (as Sgt. Edmond O'Brien)
Jane Ball	...	Jane Preston
Mark Daniels	...	Alan Ross (as Sgt. Mark Daniels)
Jo-Carroll Dennison	...	Dorothy Ross
Don Taylor	...	Danny 'Pinkie' Scariano (as Cpl. Don Taylor)
Judy Holliday	...	Ruth Miller
Lee J. Cobb	...	Doctor (as Cpl. Lee Cobb)
Peter Lind Hayes	...	O'Brien (as T/Sgt. Peter Lind Hayes)
Red Buttons	...	Whitey / Andrews Sister (as Cpl. Red Buttons)
Barry Nelson	...	Bobby Crills (as Cpl. Barry Nelson)
Rune Hultman	...	Dave Anderson (as Sgt. Rune Hultman)
Gary Merrill	...	Capt. McIntyre (as Cpl. Garry Merrill)
George Reeves	...	Lt. Thompson (as Sgt. George Reeves)

Runtime:

USA:130 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Taft, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Dick Hogan, who had played leading character Frankie Davis on Broadway, was replaced by Lon McCallister. Hogan was given a bit part as Jimmy Gardner.

My experience in the production

I had a personal interest in this movie. When I was 17 and just out of high school I got a job at 20th Century Fox as a member of the Laborers and Hod Carriers Union. At the end of my first day (sweeping the deck of an aircraft carrier) I was told to bring a suitcase the next morning with enough clothes etc. for one or two weeks. When I arrived the next morning a bus was waiting and about 20 of us headed south toward San Diego. Just short of there we stopped at an army base called either Camp Callan or Camp Hahn. Once we were bunked in we went north a few miles into Camp Pendleton, the big Marine base. There, on the beach, we started building what was supposed to be a Japanese Pacific island base. It took us about a week or ten days to complete the installation, which included a water tank, gun entrenchments, sand-bagged trenches and living quarters. All this was at very high pay, sometimes 'golden time', which was triple our regular hourly wage. Our food was also first rate = prime rib at lunch, etc. - which was amazing because it was wartime and very hard to get good meat at home.

Once the job was finished I waited eagerly for the movie to come out, which was about eight or ten months later. Then I waited eagerly through two hours of the movie before my handiwork finally came on screen. Then it was no more than three or four minutes (maybe less) of the movie's heroes dive bombing the base and blowing it to smithereens. A bit disappointing, but still fun.

In spite of the disappointment I enjoyed the movie and have not seen it since. I learned later that this movie was underwritten by the government and Fox was paid on a cost plus basis, which maybe accounts for our extravagant pay and lifestyle down there. Bob Weverka