International Squadron

International Squadron (1941)

The true story of the exploits of the RAF's (Royal Air Force) foreign legion battling the German Luftwaffe (Nazi Germany's Air Force) during the early months of 1941 during WWII before America officially entered the war at the end of the year when Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan and Hitler declared war on the United States. The United States then drafted all of their airmen and fighter pilot aces into the United States Air Force for their own combat missions against the Luftwaffe

Data lansării
1941-08-13
TMDB
6.3 / 10 (3)
Durată
1 h 26 min
Genuri
Aventuri, Dramă, Război
Regizor
Lewis Seiler, Lothar Mendes

Distribuție

Curiozități

International Squadron is a 1941 American war film directed by Lewis Seiler and Lothar Mendes that starred Ronald Reagan, Olympe Bradna and in his final film, James Stephenson. The film is based on the Eagle Squadrons, American pilots who volunteered to fly for the Royal Air Force during World War II. International Squadron featured noted Hollywood pilot Paul Mantz who acted as the film's aerial coordinator and flew during the production.

Production

When American pilots went to war in the R.A.F. Eagle Squadrons, it set off a minor war between several of the Hollywood studios. Producer Walter Wanger had immediately copyrighted the name of "Eagle Squadron" for his film of the same name that appeared in early 1942. Producer Darryl F. Zanuck of 20th Century Fox wrote angry letters to Hal Wallis of Warner Bros. Pictures accusing them of not only stealing his idea of his A Yank in the R.A.F.

Zanuck threatened legal action unless Warners stopped the film from being made or not to release their film until 60 days after Zanuck's film was released. Warners ignored Zanuck as the Eagle Squadrons were a major news item of the day and Warners based their screenplay on a film made by the studio Ceiling Zero based on a play by Frank Wead.

Warners acquired another boost by hiring Byron Kennerly, a former member of an Eagle Squadron as the film's technical advisor. Kennerly had written a magazine story Squadron 71, Scramble! A Day in the Eagle Squadron, R.A.F. that was published in the July 1941 issue of Harper's Magazine and was in the process of writing a book The Eagles Roar! that Warners bought the rights to.

Actual film of dogfighting between Spitfires and Messerschmitts and Heinkels and a London air raid were shot by Warners' Teddington studios technicians and shipped to the United States for inclusion in the film.

The modest budget for International Squadron necessitated the use of the Alhambra, California Municipal Airport standing in for an RAF base, and a bevy of contemporary civil aircraft standing in for the latest RAF fighters. The unlikely group included a Mantz's Boeing Model 100, Brown B-3 Racer, three Ryan STA trainers and a Travel Air Type R Mystery Ship.

Citește pe Wikipedia · Text din Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Date din Wikidata.

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