Men of the Fighting Lady

Author James A. Michener visits the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany during the Korean War. He is tasked to write the crew's Christmas story. He is brought to flight surgeon Kent Dowling who recounts the story.

Released a year after the war, this is adapted from a magazine story by Michener. The use of the real thing and some real footage helps heighten the intensity. Seeing the real thing is fascinating even all these years later. Seeing the real bombing runs must have been compelling back in the day. I do remember the plane explosive crash on the carrier deck from somewhere else. I wonder if this is where it came from. Otherwise, the story is simple and the characters don't really stand out. These are good character actors and they do a solid job. As for the climatic story, it's just not that dramatic. The drama is concentrated on the landing and it's not that in doubt.

"Men of the Fighting Lady" is a very good and highly unusual film. It's highly unusual because the screenplay is based on two different short stories by two different authors! And, even more unusual, Louis Calhern plays one of these authors, the famous writer James Michener. It's also a bit unusual because it's a Korean War film....and, oddly enough, Hollywood made very few Korean War movies.

The story is about a group of fighter-bomber pilots flying Panther jets from a US aircraft carrier. What happened to the men is described to Michener (Louis Calhern) by the ship's doctor (Walter Pidgeon)....a story about the pilots flying interdiction missions over Korea. The part of the story that is longest and most interesting is a true story of a pilot hit by shrapnel. The plan is badly damaged, he is blinded and he cannot eject...and another pilot trails him and talks him down onto the carrier deck!

The story is interesting and the acting quite good. But like too many war films, it's filled with lot of grainy stock footage that obviously doesn't fit. What's worse, occasionally it's VERY sloppy...such as when a dark blue Panther jet becomes a silver F-84 fighter plane! Another time, during a bombing run, a Panther becomes a WWII era propeller fighter, the F4U Corsair*! This is not only sloppy but insults the audience's intelligence.

Overall, worth seeing...despite the sloppy footage issue.



* To folks who know a ton about planes, yes I know that the F4U Corsair was also used in Korea....but a propeller fighter becoming a jet fighter...that's just stupid and obvious.

If you don't mind mid-fifties melodrama, there's a whole lot of good action, suspense, and some nice, patriotic touches in Men of the Fighting Lady, an 80 minute long recruitment poster for being a fighter-bomber pilot, especially in an unpopular war. There's actually so much as-realistic-as-you-can-get-for-1954 action in the movie that the human element almost trips up the gun-camera footage of things being strafed and napalmed.

Yet, even if you find the talk-talk irritating (I didn't because it rang true), you can't dismiss the home movie sent to the air group on the carrier for Christmas or the blinded Panther pilot fumbling with a morphine syringe, trying to drive back the pain of his injuries so he can listen to his wingman talk him down.

I'd tune in the next time Turner Classic Movies shows Men of the Fighting Lady, and even if you don't believe in the Iraq War, you'll really get a taste of the flesh and blood reality of being a carrier pilot, dropping ordnance on things that don't seem particularly important to blow up.

A thirty-ish Van Johnson as Lt. Howard Thayer is excellent in his talk-talk scenes with the blinded pilot, his friend Ken. Johnson's character is confined in the fighter pilot's seat, encased in flight gear and helmet, with the actor having only his voice and facial expressions to convey his depth of concern. The flying sequences have been very positively reviewed by veterans on a fighter pilots information sharing website, Korean War veterans sharing website, and military movie catalog website; always noted to be realistic. Actors dialog in the talk-down scene was transcribed from the actual pilots radio transmissions, with very few exceptions (actual is posted online). Bombing scenes are actual, but not graphic compared to modern special effects scenes. Should not be disturbing to younger viewers. Not a celebration of war, this film deals with loss of pilots lives, it's effect on friends and family. Touching but not soapy or sorrowful. The film has variety of action, and keeps moving along well. Noted to be the best Korean War action film, and Carrier film ever produced.

One of the finest of the Korea War films with dramatic airfights , following the hazardous exploits of a carrier and its crew . This action/adventure/War story is dedicated to the remarkable men who run the machines of war . It is based in events published in the Saturday Evening Post under the titles ¨The Forgotten Heroes of Korea¨ by James Michener and ¨The Case of the Blind Pilot¨ by commander Harry A. Burn USN. Regarding a famous writer , Louis Calhern as James A Michener , visits an aircraft carrier during the Korean war to learn more about it and the way it's run. He also gets to find out more about the Navy and Marine aviators themselves , their internal and external conflicts and dangers of their job . Torn out of a tortured sky !. M-G-M presents the heroic story of what happened to the Men of the Fighting Lady ! .No man is an island , entire of itself.. Any man´s death dimininishes me because I am involved in mankind and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls -it tolls for thee -John Donne.

A Korean war drama movie with flag-waging American sentiment , thrills , emotion , dangerous aerial scenes , occasional drama , battle scenes and a lot of stock footage . Features the stories of selected pilots stationed on a US aircraft carrier in the Pacific during the Korean war . The stories told to Louis Calhern as writer James A Michener , centering around pilot Van Johnson and standing out his feat in which he helps a blinded Dewey Martin land his aircraft safely on the carrier deck . This is a powerful film competently directed by Andrew Marton and it displays extremely realistic aerial sequences , in fact this picture was made with the cooperation of the department of Defense and the United States Navy , with particular appreciation to Commander Air Force , US Pacific fleet and the officers and men of his command . This exciting and thrilling film focus on the group of pilots and their perilous missions on their planes . Gene Ruggerio's editing of the war footage was so expertly made that he was even questioned by the Pentagon when they had a hard time believing the scenes were achieved by skillful mountage and painted backdrops . This Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1954) production is a hell of a war movie , combining with some effective quiter moments . It is plenty of riveting technical detail and there's richly rounded support cast . There's also also an introspective real guy interfacing by the ensemble cast , as well as a nice group of actors giving fiercely well-defined portrayals of pilots and soldiers under stress , being masterfully played by a lot of familiar faces , such as : Van Johnson , Walter Pidgeon, Louis Calhern , Keenan Wynn , Frank Lovejoy, Robert Horton , Bert Freed , among others, and look for 'Beaver' Jerry Mathers as one of Keenan Wynn's sons.

It displays a moving and rousing musical score by classic composer Miklós Rózsa . It's all topped off with the vividly charming cinematography which typified the Korean war period from director of photography George Folsey . This propaganda and agreeable picture was professionally directed by Andrew Marton , and there this great filmmaker creates some nice aerial action scenes , as it has worn well through the years , in spite of the extremely jingoist and patriotist yarn . Marton's filmmaking is masterly in its economy , power and pace . Craftsman director Marton made a lot of films in all kind of genres and creating good works . Marton was a specialist on Wartime movies, such as : ¨The thin red line¨also based on James A. Michener movie , ¨The longest day ¨and adventure movies as ¨African Texas style¨, ¨Around the world under the sea¨, ¨Clarence , the cross-eyed lion¨, and ¨King Salomon's mines¨(1950) co-directed by Compton Bennett and Andrew Marton directed the second unit , he then was tasked with replacing Compton Bennett as director after the latter had been taken ill . One of his more prestigious assignments came about by chance to lay in some excellent work as second-unit director , notably in charge of the chariot race for William Wyler's ¨Ben-Hur¨ (1959), as well as of the Normandy invasion sequences for the World War II in the sensational ¨The Longest day¨(1942) . After his contract with MGM expired in 1954, Marton founded his own production company in conjunction with fellow Hungarian émigrés Ivan Tors and Laslo Benedek . He later concentrated on TV adventure series, helming the pilots, respectively for "Daktari" (1966) and "Cowboy in Africa" . Men of the Fighting Lady (1954) rating : 6.5/10 , better than average.