Franchot Tone, Van Johnson, and Gene Kelly star in WW II flick about an American unit, stuck with a dutch commander. This was 1943, so we had already been in the war for a couple years. Down to one plane, they must take it out and do whatever damage they can. Lots of flashbacks, as we hear everyone's story, and how they got to be here. That takes up most of the film. VERY typical WW II film. Everyone doing their part. Some fun supporting roles -- Eddie Acuff, Monte Blue, Peter Lawford. Names that would turn into bigger names a few years later. Story by David Hertz. Directed by George Sidney, who co-founded Hanna Barbera. Also directed Kiss me Kate, Bye Bye Birdie, Three Musketeers, Pal Joey, Annie get your Gun,and SO MANY other biggies. I'm surprised that Sidney never won an Oscar.. probably should have gotten a lifetime achievement award or something. This one is okay. Chugs right along, Kind of two different plots though... there's the WW II story, and the "rich versus the poor" story-line within the flashbacks. Not bad. MGM/Loews. Shows now and then on TCM.
10 Reviews
Pilot # 5 was a pretty entertaining World War II drama
tavm13 April 2016
This title caught my eye at my local library when I found out Gene Kelly was one of the stars and this was one of his few straight roles-the kind not having him singing and dancing. He's not the lead, though, instead that goes to one Franchot Tone with the leading lady being Marsha Hunt. Anyway, Tone plays a fighter pilot among 5 of them, of which Kelly is also one, who gets chosen to destroy a Japanese carrier during World War II. Before that happens, we find out through reminiscences of Kelly and the others-among whom also includes Van Johnson, early in his career-what made Tone the way he is. I'll stop there and just say this was quite a compact (only 71 minutes) but entertaining drama that I just watched. The director was George Sidney on one of his early features after initially helming many of the M-G-M-produced-only "Our Gang" shorts. He'd eventually make a lot of successful movies for the studio like Thousands Cheer, Anchors Aweigh, and The Three Musketeers ('48 version), all of which would subsequently also star Gene Kelly.
WWII propaganda film
catmydogs15 October 2004
I was a little surprised to see Gene Kelly in this WWII drama. The film is one long flashback. It's not bad, but nothing out of the ordinary. If you like WWII propaganda films, this is decent. The story is about a lawyer with some personal problems and how he ends up in the services as a pilot. It's more drama than war film. The plot is a bit sappy at times and just generic, war hero stuff, but if that's your cup of tea, you'll like it just fine. The flashback portions remind me a bit of the Mel Gibson/Sissy Spacek film "The River."
Gene Kelly only has a supporting role and no, this is not a musical. The performances are generally quite good all around.
Gene Kelly only has a supporting role and no, this is not a musical. The performances are generally quite good all around.
Nice look at a rare fighter plane
jkholman12 October 2005
Knowing this to be a propaganda film, I knew to be forgiving. With that, I was able to enjoy this 2-star B production. The real treat (for me) in this film was the chance to see a rare fighter plane. It was thrilling to see a P-35 Seversky pursuit ship as one of the stars in this little film. By the time of Pearl Harbor, this airplane was considered obsolete by the pilots who flew it and the opponents that fought against it. It was the type of aircraft available to our aviators in the Pacific Command. To better appreciate those pilots and what this film tried to say, read Martin Caiden's "the Ragged, Rugged Warriors". This film is not a bad attempt at capturing on film the kind of guys Caiden writes so well about.
A very good WWII drama
planktonrules29 June 2007
Warning: Spoilers
While some aspects of this film seem a tad hokey, overall it's a very good and enjoyable film and I am sure it did a lot to shore up support at home for the war effort.
As the film begins, there's a rag-tag group of American, British and Dutch soldiers fighting off the Japanese attack in the Pacific. The new leader of this group asks for a pilot to volunteer for what probably is a suicide mission--there is only one flyable plane left and he's to use it against a major Japanese attack. All the American pilots quickly volunteer but the Captain (Franchot Tone) is chosen because of his bravery and because he has a crazy idea he can rig up a bomb to his Seversky P-35 fighter and attack the nearby Japanese aircraft carrier. Considering that by the time this film was made the P-35 was an obsolete plane, it was indeed a fools errand.
After Tone leaves, the five five remaining officers talk about what sort of man Tone was and what may have led to his volunteering for such a mission. So Tone's unusual story is told through a series of rather interesting flashbacks.
In the end, Tone attacks the carrier and fights off Japanese planes that in midair mysteriously turn into British Spitfires (due to a poor use of stock footage--a common problem in films of this era). And considering that it's a wartime propaganda film, it's almost a foregone conclusion what happens next--though it is still a very tense and exciting portion of the film.
Overall, this is a better than average war film with decent enough action, but more importantly a good story to support it.
As the film begins, there's a rag-tag group of American, British and Dutch soldiers fighting off the Japanese attack in the Pacific. The new leader of this group asks for a pilot to volunteer for what probably is a suicide mission--there is only one flyable plane left and he's to use it against a major Japanese attack. All the American pilots quickly volunteer but the Captain (Franchot Tone) is chosen because of his bravery and because he has a crazy idea he can rig up a bomb to his Seversky P-35 fighter and attack the nearby Japanese aircraft carrier. Considering that by the time this film was made the P-35 was an obsolete plane, it was indeed a fools errand.
After Tone leaves, the five five remaining officers talk about what sort of man Tone was and what may have led to his volunteering for such a mission. So Tone's unusual story is told through a series of rather interesting flashbacks.
In the end, Tone attacks the carrier and fights off Japanese planes that in midair mysteriously turn into British Spitfires (due to a poor use of stock footage--a common problem in films of this era). And considering that it's a wartime propaganda film, it's almost a foregone conclusion what happens next--though it is still a very tense and exciting portion of the film.
Overall, this is a better than average war film with decent enough action, but more importantly a good story to support it.
I see them all now as one enemy, one Fascist enemy, our enemy who shall be destroyed!
sol-kay5 October 2006
Warning: Spoilers
**SPOILERS** The movie in a round about way tries to connect political corruption in America with the Fascist dictatorships in Europe and Asia that the US, and it's allies, were at war with in WWII. We see early in the movie "Pilot #5" that the pilot in question had a death wish and was more then willing to give his life for his country. Not at what the enemy Japanese did by attacking the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor but what he did, in working as a henchman, for the corrupt Durban Machine back home in the states.
With only one plane left to stop the Japanese from taking over Dutch controlled Java the five pilots available to fly it are interviewed by Dutch Major Eichel, Steven Geray, who end's up giving, what turned out to be a suicide mission, the controls to US pilot George Collins, Franchot Tone. As Collins takes off to confront the Japanese Fleet were shown in a number of flashbacks what lead up to his joining the USAAF and why he's so determined to to stop the spread of Fascism in the world.
Collins as a young man tried to join the US military but was turned down because of a severe head injury that he claimed to had suffered in a car crash. The US Army recruiter Whiston Davis, Alan Baxter, having second thoughts about turning down the very eager and later disappointed Collins goes to his home town to find out just why he so desperately want's to join. It turns out that Collins is the most hated man in town for working as a lawyer for the corrupt Durban Machine run by the indited and later convicted former Govenor Durban, Howard Freeman.
Right out of law school Collins with the help of his childhood friend Vito Alessandro, Gene Kelly, got a job for Gov. Durban and things couldn't have looked better. At first Collins and his girlfriend Freddie, what a strange name for a girl, Andrews (Marsha Hunt) were on easy street with a bright future ahead of them. Planing to marry Freddie Collins started building their dream home but things got a bit sour when he began to realize what a lowlife his boss Durban was.
What really clinched it for Collins was when he, together with a number of Durban strong-arm men, tried to force the Pritchard out of their farm for unpaid taxes, which was pure BS,in order to grab their property. The ensuing showdown caused the Pritchard's mentally ill teenage daughter Hanna, Dorothy Morris, to hysterically climb up into the chimney where she suffocated and then died from fright. Sick at what he did Collins quit working for Durban by belting him in the mouth only to get the hell beat out of him by two of Durban's bodyguards.
Later working behind the scenes Collins helped to unseat Durban and put him behind bars but that fact was never made public by the anti-Durban coalition that he worked for. Collins was so despised in the state that no business, political or private, would have him work for them publicly feeling that, by the public knowing that Collins was employed by them, it would only hurt not help .
The movie now goes back to real-time with Collins on his way to take on single-handedly the Japanese Navy, and with his bombers instruments malfunctioning, zig-zags through the the murderous Japanese anti-aircraft artillery fire and Jap Zero's in order to draw a bead on the Jananese carrier group. Unable to drop his 500 pound bomb Collins doing a wild and dangerous kamikaze-like maneuver pile-drives right into a Japanese aircraft carrier sending it to the bottom and at the same time killing himself. We get a big speech from Major Eichel at the end of the film, with such a heavy Dutch accent that he sounds almost unintelligible, how he knew that Collins was the right man for the job. It was because he saw that Collins wasn't afraid to die for his beliefs. Were told that the Fascists that Collins put out of actions aren't just the Japanese or German Nazis but one giant enemy that's in every corner of the earth even in our own countries and must be completely and totally destroyed.
Really deep and heavy stuff for even a war propaganda film which "Pilot #5" was. It's no wonder that the film was suspected by some very ultra-patriotic US organizations, after the war, to be subversive to the American way of life. Putting the Durban political machine on Par with Hitler and Tojo was just a bit too much to take when the nation was at war. It must have been obvious to people watching the movie back then that we were not only fighting a Fascist enemy overseas but at home, with the likes of Gov. Durban, as well! It was hard to see who was a worse heavy or bad guy in the film and more of a threat to America; an elected but totally corrupt state governor or the enemy German or Japanese Fascists regimes?
With only one plane left to stop the Japanese from taking over Dutch controlled Java the five pilots available to fly it are interviewed by Dutch Major Eichel, Steven Geray, who end's up giving, what turned out to be a suicide mission, the controls to US pilot George Collins, Franchot Tone. As Collins takes off to confront the Japanese Fleet were shown in a number of flashbacks what lead up to his joining the USAAF and why he's so determined to to stop the spread of Fascism in the world.
Collins as a young man tried to join the US military but was turned down because of a severe head injury that he claimed to had suffered in a car crash. The US Army recruiter Whiston Davis, Alan Baxter, having second thoughts about turning down the very eager and later disappointed Collins goes to his home town to find out just why he so desperately want's to join. It turns out that Collins is the most hated man in town for working as a lawyer for the corrupt Durban Machine run by the indited and later convicted former Govenor Durban, Howard Freeman.
Right out of law school Collins with the help of his childhood friend Vito Alessandro, Gene Kelly, got a job for Gov. Durban and things couldn't have looked better. At first Collins and his girlfriend Freddie, what a strange name for a girl, Andrews (Marsha Hunt) were on easy street with a bright future ahead of them. Planing to marry Freddie Collins started building their dream home but things got a bit sour when he began to realize what a lowlife his boss Durban was.
What really clinched it for Collins was when he, together with a number of Durban strong-arm men, tried to force the Pritchard out of their farm for unpaid taxes, which was pure BS,in order to grab their property. The ensuing showdown caused the Pritchard's mentally ill teenage daughter Hanna, Dorothy Morris, to hysterically climb up into the chimney where she suffocated and then died from fright. Sick at what he did Collins quit working for Durban by belting him in the mouth only to get the hell beat out of him by two of Durban's bodyguards.
Later working behind the scenes Collins helped to unseat Durban and put him behind bars but that fact was never made public by the anti-Durban coalition that he worked for. Collins was so despised in the state that no business, political or private, would have him work for them publicly feeling that, by the public knowing that Collins was employed by them, it would only hurt not help .
The movie now goes back to real-time with Collins on his way to take on single-handedly the Japanese Navy, and with his bombers instruments malfunctioning, zig-zags through the the murderous Japanese anti-aircraft artillery fire and Jap Zero's in order to draw a bead on the Jananese carrier group. Unable to drop his 500 pound bomb Collins doing a wild and dangerous kamikaze-like maneuver pile-drives right into a Japanese aircraft carrier sending it to the bottom and at the same time killing himself. We get a big speech from Major Eichel at the end of the film, with such a heavy Dutch accent that he sounds almost unintelligible, how he knew that Collins was the right man for the job. It was because he saw that Collins wasn't afraid to die for his beliefs. Were told that the Fascists that Collins put out of actions aren't just the Japanese or German Nazis but one giant enemy that's in every corner of the earth even in our own countries and must be completely and totally destroyed.
Really deep and heavy stuff for even a war propaganda film which "Pilot #5" was. It's no wonder that the film was suspected by some very ultra-patriotic US organizations, after the war, to be subversive to the American way of life. Putting the Durban political machine on Par with Hitler and Tojo was just a bit too much to take when the nation was at war. It must have been obvious to people watching the movie back then that we were not only fighting a Fascist enemy overseas but at home, with the likes of Gov. Durban, as well! It was hard to see who was a worse heavy or bad guy in the film and more of a threat to America; an elected but totally corrupt state governor or the enemy German or Japanese Fascists regimes?
During WWII, dedication to country was portrayed by Pilot #5.
Bob-3272 January 1999
There was just one american aircraft left on the small South Pacific island. Five remaining pilots stood in formation as the commander asked for a volunteer to fly out to the threatening Japanese fleet. All five volunteered. The commander had to determine which volunteer to choose. He asked each one in turn why he wanted to fly the mission. Answers like "The dirty Japs killed my brother at...", etc. Then, pilot no. 5 was asked why he was volunteering. His answer was "For my country."
These words of dedication to country made a lasting impression on an 11 year-old boy.
These words of dedication to country made a lasting impression on an 11 year-old boy.
Death to the Fascists
howdymax26 November 2005
I'm usually not that fond of movies that use flashbacks to tell a story, but I would have to make an exception for this one. It reminds me, in some ways, of another movie, High Barbaree, which used the same gimmick. Van Johnson even appeared in both. There are some major differences though. While High Barbaree was a rather sappy movie with a pretty weak story line, this production had a punch.
It involves a raggedy group of five American pilots left on an isolated island in the Pacific during the early days of WW II. They are commanded by a Dutch Major and there is only one patched up plane left to attack the Japanese carrier that threatens to destroy them. All five pilots volunteer for what amounts to a suicide mission. Guess which pilot the Major picks.
From here on, we move from flashback to flashback, and little by little learn everything there is to know about Pilot #5. It stretches the imagination a little to realize that all the other pilots knew him in some capacity in civvy street. When the Dutch Major asks who this brave volunteer is, they all put the jigsaw puzzle together piece by piece.
His life before this heroic mission is the real story. It begins with a naive young man, in love, and with dreams of a successful law career. We find him tempted by greed and power into a life of corruption. He loses the girl, his self respect, and his career. Of course he has to redeem himself or how else could be become the hero of this movie? Unlike High Barbaree, this story is compelling and ends with an action packed bang.
About the cast. Franchot Tone plays the hero. No matter how many movies I've seen him in, I always see him as Franchot Tone - not the character he plays. Still, he isn't bad in this one. Marsha Hunt plays the love interest. I always thought she got the shaft during the blacklist. She was talented, beautiful, and could really sing, but her politics got in the way of her career. The only other principal player was Gene Kelly. Nothing like the song and dance man you might remember him as. He plays a straight dramatic role, and does it well. I mentioned Van Johnson. This was early in his career and he has an incidental support role as one of the pilots. The rest of the cast are somewhat familiar contract players.
There is a lot of propaganda in this movie. As a matter of fact, there is a rather ridiculous speech at the end of the movie, where the Dutch Major compares corrupt politicians and greedy landowners to Mussolini and declares them all fascists. Maybe Marsha Hunt should have passed on this one.
It involves a raggedy group of five American pilots left on an isolated island in the Pacific during the early days of WW II. They are commanded by a Dutch Major and there is only one patched up plane left to attack the Japanese carrier that threatens to destroy them. All five pilots volunteer for what amounts to a suicide mission. Guess which pilot the Major picks.
From here on, we move from flashback to flashback, and little by little learn everything there is to know about Pilot #5. It stretches the imagination a little to realize that all the other pilots knew him in some capacity in civvy street. When the Dutch Major asks who this brave volunteer is, they all put the jigsaw puzzle together piece by piece.
His life before this heroic mission is the real story. It begins with a naive young man, in love, and with dreams of a successful law career. We find him tempted by greed and power into a life of corruption. He loses the girl, his self respect, and his career. Of course he has to redeem himself or how else could be become the hero of this movie? Unlike High Barbaree, this story is compelling and ends with an action packed bang.
About the cast. Franchot Tone plays the hero. No matter how many movies I've seen him in, I always see him as Franchot Tone - not the character he plays. Still, he isn't bad in this one. Marsha Hunt plays the love interest. I always thought she got the shaft during the blacklist. She was talented, beautiful, and could really sing, but her politics got in the way of her career. The only other principal player was Gene Kelly. Nothing like the song and dance man you might remember him as. He plays a straight dramatic role, and does it well. I mentioned Van Johnson. This was early in his career and he has an incidental support role as one of the pilots. The rest of the cast are somewhat familiar contract players.
There is a lot of propaganda in this movie. As a matter of fact, there is a rather ridiculous speech at the end of the movie, where the Dutch Major compares corrupt politicians and greedy landowners to Mussolini and declares them all fascists. Maybe Marsha Hunt should have passed on this one.
This is one anti-Fascist WWII propaganda movie that must have hit close to home
benoit-312 November 2010
Warning: Spoilers
This has to be the single most articulate WWII propaganda movie in existence making the point that the Fascists were not just in Europe and Japan but everywhere the profit motive and the reign of fear were trumping democracy in the good old USA. This message still resonates today.
This is a rare American film that actually denounces corrupt and anti-democratic greed-is-good practises and equates them with fascism. It mustn't have gone down smoothly in Republican circles where fighting for lower taxes for the rich was a more important priority than actually fighting the war. To make the movie even more remarkable, the level of violence exerted against the poor exploited Italian farmers in the film is actually on a par with the violence of war and the atrocities of other future American films noirs.
There is absolutely no other film like it and it's a wonder that its script-writer and director were not suspected of Communist affiliations after the war. The only reason they escaped scrutiny was that the writer died ealy in mysterious circumstances and the director only dabbled in light musicals and romantic comedies before and after.
The kamikaze ending ("Poppa's little bomb rack isn't working") must also have been a shocker to many.
Highly recommended to anyone who doesn't think Hollywood ever showed any balls.
This is a rare American film that actually denounces corrupt and anti-democratic greed-is-good practises and equates them with fascism. It mustn't have gone down smoothly in Republican circles where fighting for lower taxes for the rich was a more important priority than actually fighting the war. To make the movie even more remarkable, the level of violence exerted against the poor exploited Italian farmers in the film is actually on a par with the violence of war and the atrocities of other future American films noirs.
There is absolutely no other film like it and it's a wonder that its script-writer and director were not suspected of Communist affiliations after the war. The only reason they escaped scrutiny was that the writer died ealy in mysterious circumstances and the director only dabbled in light musicals and romantic comedies before and after.
The kamikaze ending ("Poppa's little bomb rack isn't working") must also have been a shocker to many.
Highly recommended to anyone who doesn't think Hollywood ever showed any balls.
Marsha Hunt Gave a Great Performance!
whpratt115 October 2004
It was great seeing this picture and seeing a great beautiful Lady, and actress named Marsha Hunt. She appeared in many pictures in Hollywood and in this picture she stars with a leading man of the 30's and 40's Franchot Tone, (Lt. George Braynor Collins),"Advise and Consent",'62. Marsha Hunt,Fredie Andrew/Collins),"Blue Denium",'59, was not appreciated as she should have been in Hollywood and was not given the proper roles she deserved. In this picture she plays a woman caught between two men, Gene Kelly (Lt. Vito S. Alessandro)," Brigadoon",'54, who is madly in love with her and also lets her know how he really feels. There are flash backs in this film about all these men who are pilots and fighting against Japan in WW II. It was very interesting seeing Gene Kelly acting instead of "Dancing In The Rain", as he did in the many musicals he use to appear in for MGM. Van Johnson (Lt.Everett Arnold),"Subway in the Sky",'59, even appeared in this picture very young and just starting out in his career. A great film with many great Classic actors. It is nice to know that Marsha Hunt will have a Birthday on Oct 17th, she will be 87 years younger!
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