Winged Victory (1944)

Pinky Scariano, Allan Ross, and Frankie Davis all join the Army Air Forces with hopes of becoming pilots. In training, they meet and become pals with Bobby Grills and Irving Miller, and the... See full summary »

Director:

George Cukor

Writers:

Moss Hart (play), Moss Hart (screenplay)

Stars:

Lon McCallister, Jeanne Crain, Edmond O'Brien

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lon McCallister	...	Francis William '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 William 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	...	Robert Edward '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)

Storyline

Pinky Scariano, Allan Ross, and Frankie Davis all join the Army Air Forces with hopes of becoming pilots. In training, they meet and become pals with Bobby Grills and Irving Miller, and the five struggle through the rigid training and grueling tests involved in becoming pilots. Not all of them succeed, and tragedy awaits for some.

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Plot Keywords:

pilot | based on play | 

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Taglines:

Added Attractions - Pluto Cartoon "The Dog Watch" and Latest News Events. (print ad - Lubbock Avalanche Journal- Lindsey Theatre - Lubbock, Texas - March 18, 1945)

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Genres:

Drama | Music | Romance | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

Film debut of Jeanne Crain.

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Connections

Featured in 20th Century-Fox: The First 50 Years (1997)

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Soundtracks

Pennsylvania Polka
(uncredited)
Written by Lester Lee and Zeke Manners

User Reviews

Most un-Cukorlike

William Wyler was to have directed this adaptation of Moss Hart's hit Broadway play with music/ recruiting poster-vivant, but his own military commitments intervened and it went to a most unlikely helmsman: George Cukor. The "women's director" has a sure touch on the many documentary-like sequences of Air Corps training, and he invests it with more unhackneyed humanity than the genre generally allowed, particularly in wartime. Sure, the gee-whiz (and entirely white, save for one unbilled Chinese-American recruit) bunch of newbies are nicer and more wholesome than in real life, and the speechifying about home and Mom and the wife and kid gets pretty thick, but it's efficient propaganda and undeniably stirring. Notable, too, for the all-military male cast, several of whom didn't reemerge for years: Lon McAllister, Edmond O'Brien, Martin Ritt, Red Buttons (in drag, as an Andrews Sister), Peter Lind Hayes, Karl Malden, Kevin McCarthy, Gary Merrill, Lee J. Cobb, and Don Taylor. Also for a very early glimpse of Judy Holliday, who doesn't show up till an hour and a half into the picture but has some good little sequences as O'Brien's worried-sick Brooklyn spouse. Too bad its rights are in a tangle and the only print anyone knows of is 16mm; evidently, after Twentieth Century Fox released it (to considerable success), the rights reverted to the Army, and if there's a good 35mm print out there, it probably lies somewhere in the bowels of the Pentagon. It's disingenuous and corny in spots, but it also captures the rigors of military training and the terrors of war vividly, and it deserves to be more widely seen.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 December 1944 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cita en los cielos

Filming Locations:

Camp Pendleton, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1