...whose only desire is learning to fly.Like some other Leisen movies of the era ("to each is own" " hold back the dawn") it is a very very long flashback framed by short scenes of a trial,the verdict of which we learn at the end ;it's not on a par with the two movies I mention above ;Veronica Lake is given a particularly thankless part and all that concerns her character is not really plausible:she is able to enter a military base effortlessly and even to get into the cabin of her husband 's plane ;Besides ,she becomes a murderess more because the script writers want to justify her death-not a spoiler:we learn it in the first minutes-than because of her motives (we hardly know her victim:a phone call and that's it).
Things go better when Leisen depicts the three musketeers's camaraderie and enthusiasm,and their endearing relationship with their instructor,their hopes ,and their fear of being part of the washed out third .Acting is good,particularly Brian Donlevy as the instructor;on the other hand ,although Ray Milland's talent cannot be denied ,his character is not that nice and he redeems himself in extremis during his trial.They have moments of depression ,of self-doubting and of self-denial.A mediocre flick such as eighties "top gun" found a lot of its inspiration here.
Things go better when Leisen depicts the three musketeers's camaraderie and enthusiasm,and their endearing relationship with their instructor,their hopes ,and their fear of being part of the washed out third .Acting is good,particularly Brian Donlevy as the instructor;on the other hand ,although Ray Milland's talent cannot be denied ,his character is not that nice and he redeems himself in extremis during his trial.They have moments of depression ,of self-doubting and of self-denial.A mediocre flick such as eighties "top gun" found a lot of its inspiration here.