L'engin fantastique

This movie like so many old movies shows the relationship between officers and enlisted men as a bunch of friendly guys working together. This is not factual. Even on these tiny WWII subs, the enlisted men and officers were kept apart. The officers had their own separate mess and cook. Officers never fraternized with enlisted men. If you have never been in a WWII sub, it is informative. Even in these incredibly close quarters Naval discipline was enforced. In several scenes in this movie the sub Commander greets enlisted men as if they were high school pals. The real Navy was not at all like McHale's Navy.

Despite the presence of Glenn Ford, "The Flying Missile" is an awfully dull film. And, although the title makes it sound as if it's a sci- fi movie, it isn't.

The film is a boring story about some folks on a sub who insist that they learn to incorporate missiles onto their ship. But, this isn't done so they all go to missile training school. Along the way, their commander (Ford) strikes up a relationship with a not particularly interesting lady.

During the course of this film, you'll see a lot of stock footage that is often crappily assembled. For example, you'll see a Bearcat airplane without a large droptank (for fuel)--yet when it's in mid- air, it has one. And, when it lands, it's missing. Also, you'll see a V-2 style missile become some other sort of missile after it's launched! And, a jet chase plane, in some shots, sports propellers!! Talk about sloppy and indifferent to continuity.

So, what you have is a dull film with worthless footage. Need I say more?

The film is worth watching for Viveca Lindfors, who plays the most important part, in cajoling a war invalid back to life. That's the only human part of this war chronicle. It's all about testing missiles, and both Glenn Ford and Viveca Lindfors are agreed that this missle business is just awful, they just heartily dislike it, and so does her uncle. Still they go through with the project, Viveca losing her job in the bargain and Glenn ending up a cripple, but the interesting bit is how he returns to life in spite of his bitterness, total frustration and sense of guilt because of the loss of the life of his closest mate, for which he blames himself, and he is not altogether wrong in doing so. One small mistake in precarious ventures like this, and it can all go to blazes, which it does, but Viveca saves the situation. It's a rather humdrum ordinary cliché-kind sort of chronicle of no special interest, while you have to admit that Viveca Lindfors at least is beautiful.

Paradoxically this early Cold War public information film masquerading as a feature would probably have worked better had less money been spent on it.

The basic storyline about launching missiles from cruisers is absorbing enough without the lengthy romantic and melodramatic digressions inserted into it without adding much to the film other than it's running time; while the casting of veteran character actors like John Qualen as Viveca Lindfors' 'comical' uncle and Henry O'Neill as her warm-hearted boss further heighten the old-fashioned feel of the piece.

It Never Ceases to Amaze.

The Parade of Never-Ending Boasting from the Governmental Influence on Hollywood in the Post-WWII Years.

Taking Victory-Lap After Victory-Lap at the Expense of Good Taste and Humility.

Yes We (the Allies) Defeated Evil in Another Us vs Them Slaughter for the Sake of Saving Humanity from Itself.

We Won the War...Hurrah.

A Good Example of the Hollywood Unbridled Assault on Movie-Goer Sensibility and Tolerance,

is those Prolog "Government is Your Friend" Embarrassments that got Tacked-On Otherwise Good Movies.

Some "Authority Figure" Reading from Cue-Cards About this and that to Pacify and Glorify.

Back to this Movie.

It is a Forgotten-Film and Deserves the Neglect.

Wasting Glen Ford and other Valuable Resources the Movie Plays-Out Like a Military Training Short.

Void of Creativity and Any Entertainment Value.

File this One in the Dust-Bin of Hollywood History with those Other Obsoletes.

Because this Contains Absolutely Nothing Worth Anyone's Time..