Fighter Squadron combines the best elements of Dawn Patrol plus a little bit of Command Decision which came out the same year at MGM having previously been on Broadway. Edmond O'Brien and Robert Stack both get two of their most memorable screen roles in this film. The film makes good use of integrating actual color combat films with the body of the story.
O'Brien plays a former Flying Tiger pilot from China who is now joined with the Army Air Corps and is flying in the European theater. He's a pretty undisciplined guy and not real big on the chain of command which bedevils General Sheppard Strudwick. But the big general Henry Hull rather likes him and so do the men in his group.
But he's got to adjust his attitude when he gets put in command of the whole squadron. The job calls for a whole new level of thinking on O'Brien's behalf.
Fighter Squadron is an aviation buff's dream. not only the vintage planes seen in glorious color, but the debate of various uses of the airplane as a weapon of war. The arguments over the air tactics of the second World War are still debated among military historians.
If it weren't for Tom D'Andrea's role in The Life Of Riley as neighbor Jim Gillis, his role as conniving Sergeant Dolan would have been the career role of his life. D'Andrea supplies the comic relief in Fighter Squadron with an absolutely dead on, deadpan droll performance as Dolan who does get a lovely comeuppance in the end. Fighter Squadron is worth watching just for D'Andrea.
Two actors who later came out as gay made their screen debuts in Fighter Squadron. Jack Larson has a small part as the baby faced new pilot who joins the squadron and becomes O'Brien's wing man. Rock Hudson is also here and he has a line or two, but he's readily recognizable as one of the pilots in the officer's club. Hudson originally signed with Warner Brothers. but was cut loose from his contract after his debut and was immediately snapped up by Universal. Jack Warner must have kicked himself for years after that one.
Robert Stack plays O'Brien's best friend and fellow former Flying Tiger. He's getting married and violating an order that Sheppard Strudwick does not like married pilots flying in his command. Strudwick himself comes off as a stuffed shirt and a by the book martinet. Still his ideas are not totally without merit.
Fighter Squadron holds up very well over 60 years after the film was made. O'Brien, Stack, and D'Andrea do some of their best work in this film.
O'Brien plays a former Flying Tiger pilot from China who is now joined with the Army Air Corps and is flying in the European theater. He's a pretty undisciplined guy and not real big on the chain of command which bedevils General Sheppard Strudwick. But the big general Henry Hull rather likes him and so do the men in his group.
But he's got to adjust his attitude when he gets put in command of the whole squadron. The job calls for a whole new level of thinking on O'Brien's behalf.
Fighter Squadron is an aviation buff's dream. not only the vintage planes seen in glorious color, but the debate of various uses of the airplane as a weapon of war. The arguments over the air tactics of the second World War are still debated among military historians.
If it weren't for Tom D'Andrea's role in The Life Of Riley as neighbor Jim Gillis, his role as conniving Sergeant Dolan would have been the career role of his life. D'Andrea supplies the comic relief in Fighter Squadron with an absolutely dead on, deadpan droll performance as Dolan who does get a lovely comeuppance in the end. Fighter Squadron is worth watching just for D'Andrea.
Two actors who later came out as gay made their screen debuts in Fighter Squadron. Jack Larson has a small part as the baby faced new pilot who joins the squadron and becomes O'Brien's wing man. Rock Hudson is also here and he has a line or two, but he's readily recognizable as one of the pilots in the officer's club. Hudson originally signed with Warner Brothers. but was cut loose from his contract after his debut and was immediately snapped up by Universal. Jack Warner must have kicked himself for years after that one.
Robert Stack plays O'Brien's best friend and fellow former Flying Tiger. He's getting married and violating an order that Sheppard Strudwick does not like married pilots flying in his command. Strudwick himself comes off as a stuffed shirt and a by the book martinet. Still his ideas are not totally without merit.
Fighter Squadron holds up very well over 60 years after the film was made. O'Brien, Stack, and D'Andrea do some of their best work in this film.