Reviews

Artie Shaw's band adds a little more pop to the music than is found in most Astaire films. I found that the irritating characters that Meredith and Astaire played got in my way of enjoying the usual pleasures of an Astaire movie. I kept wanting somebody to tell Meredith that it's rude to wear a hat indoors. I found the sneaky and mean rascal that Astaire played even more annoying. Not a dog, but a picture I'll not look forward to watching again.

Fred MacMurray's character tells a group of cadets that they will soon realize that they will share in "making history as it is made today." Given the immediate future of the US Navy, those were prophetic words. A year after the making of this movie the US Navy was fighting for its life, at long odds, against the Japanese. This movie gives a glimpse at some of the planes that the Navy used in the early days of the war. A poignant sight is the view of the "Devastator" torpedo bomber squadron. They are the all blue planes shown early in the movie right after Errol Flynn says "those planes do something to you don't they?" In the critical battle at Midway a year later, the sadly out-of-date Devastators were almost totally wiped out in a brave but futile attack. Many of the pilots flying those Devastators in the movie must at have fallen at Midway. Errol Flynn puts his swashbuckling on ice in this movie as his character's main deeds in this movie are cerebral. The Navy's aviators and planes are the stars of this show and Flynn is more a team player in this movie than usual. The planes and pilots provide thrills enough.