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I was either 12 or 13 when I saw this movie and it probably had much to do with my becoming a United States Air Force pilot. Shortly after I saw the movie my father and I attended the grand opening of Ellington Field in Houston and I saw a P-38 and fell in love with aviation.

I have seen the movie again in recent years and after twenty-nine years in the Air Force tend to pick the movie apart for the "Hollywood" production which is frequently quite different from the real world. However, it was an outstanding movie for its time and I probably have many fellow aviators that this movie influenced when they were young and impressionable.

This Army air corps recruitment film from Paramount Pictures and director Mitchell Leisen follows three cadets, former stockbroker Jeff (Ray Milland), insecure mechanic Al (William Holden), and amiable lunkhead Tom (Wayne Morris), as they go through flight training under the tutelage of tough instructor Captain Mercer (Brian Donlevy). The boys also find time for romance with photographer Carolyn (Constance Moore) and gold-digging nightclub singer Sally (Veronica Lake). Also featuring Harry Davenport, Phil Brown, Edward Fielding, Willard Robertson, Hobart Cavanaugh, Charles Drake, Alan Hale Jr., Craig Stevens, and Hedda Hopper.

This movie is an overlong, melodramatic mess, but I liked it anyway. The first half is not unlike many pre-WW2 military boot-camp movies, where guys bond, fight over a girl or two, and slowly reveal why they joined the service, since in those pre-war days, they all had to have some reason, be it scandalous or life re-invention. Just as things were beginning to grow stale, at around the midway point of the movie Veronica Lake shows up as a super-sexy manipulator, and things get interesting again. She looks amazing and her character is irredeemable. According to the trivia I read, this is the film where she started getting a bad work reputation, but knowing that just adds to her performance. Where it all leads is ridiculous, but entertaining, although like so many studio-era films, it's all wrapped up too nice and neat at the end. The movie features some terrific aerial footage and stunt flying, but ironically it would win the Oscar for Best Special Effects, which are arguably the worst aspect of the film.

Mitchell Leisen was drafted in to do this one after shooting had started when it wasn't coming together under the original director. He did a good job of the flying shots but the clichéd, inconsistent script stops this from being any more than passable.

The movie is also long, unusual for Leisen as he liked fast paced movies, and I guess some of this is due to scenes capturing the feel of the air force at work. However by the time you get back to the court martial scenes at the beginning you have almost forgotten what the trial was about.

I liked Brian Donlevy - thought he was convincing. Bill Holden was just starting out. Ray Milland always reminds me of a second rate Cary Grant, except he managed to do something later in his career that Cary was unable to do - win the Oscar for best actor. There is no development at all for his character in the script. Didn't mind Veronica Lake though she was apparently not a lot of fun to work with in this her first movie.

This movie is also referenced in Leisen's next movie "Hold Back the Dawn" as the movie Leisen is making when the Charles Boyer character comes in to tell his story.

I was to be a guard at the phony gate as the stars passed through but I was not in the picture when released. I was a private in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Kelly Field. I am sorely disappointed that some movie studio has the picture locked up so no one can now obtain a copy except at an exorbitant price on eBay. This picture seemed to be the "launch pad" for many in the cast. It was fun to see and hear stars such as Brian Donlevy and Ray Milland complaining about the hot weather at San Antonio. During the filming a plane crashed on the runway and the pilot burned in it. It seemed so very ironic that it happened in front of the cameras in reality while so much boring stuff was staged. I saw the movie in New Your on my way to Europe in WWII. Forrest Lee Green

When Constance Bennet's character is sitting on the tail of the bomber taking pictures, she's using a range finder camera. When she jumps down, she's now holding a TLR (twin lens reflex).