A Yank in the R.A.F. (1941)

hyped garbage

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

"A Yank in the R.A.F." is the first World War II movie I've ever seen where I was actually rooting for the Nazis to shoot down the hero's plane and kill him!The story centers on Tim Baker (Tyrone Power), an arrogant hotshot American pilot who flies a fighter plane from Canada to Britain, as part of the Lend Lease Act, in the days before the London Blitz begins. Tim decides to stay in London and join the R.A.F. after he runs into an old flame, Carol Brown (Betty Grable), an American showgirl living in London. Tim and Carol had a thing going back in Kansas City. She left him because he kept cheating on her with other girls. But now, Tim insists they should get back together, even though Carol tells him she wants nothing to do with him. Tim follows her around London, forces his way into her apartment, turns on his oily charm, kisses her, and suddenly she's all his again, even though she calls him a "worm."The inevitable "love triangle" follows. Carol meets John Morley (John Sutton), an R.A.F. bomber pilot who turns out to be Tim's commanding officer. Morley is a true English gentleman, who falls in love with Carol, appreciates her for who she is, and could probably make her very happy. But Carol turns down his marriage proposal, even though she says she doesn't really love Tim.Tim is a world-class a—hole! He treats Carol like dirt, and yet she seems to be putty in his hands. When he's not chasing Carol, Tim is chasing after every other pretty girl he sees. After being shot down in Holland, he escapes back to England and ends up in the hospital – and immediately propositions the pretty nurse by his bedside.When they have a date, Tim stands Carol up to go drinking with his R.A.F. buddies, then gets mad when he comes to her apartment and finds she's gone out with Morley. Finally, Carol gets fed up with Tim and throws him out of her apartment. I was hoping she'd throw some things at him, or maybe kick him in the nuts, but I guess Daryl Zanuck thought that wouldn't be a good use of Betty Grable's famous legs.Up until this point in the movie, I really hated Tim Baker. After what happens next, I started to loathe him. Tim goes to Carol's apartment, wearing his arm in a sling and walking on a cane, pretending he was injured when he crashed in Holland. Carol sees through his ruse ("I'm dumb, but I'm not THAT dumb.") and tells him to get out.Instead, Tim pulls out an engagement ring, throws Carol down on the couch, jumps on top of her, and forces the ring onto her finger while kissing her face as she screams in protest. He tells her, "You're my girl, like it or not. And when I come back, I'll make it official and marry you."Engagement by rape. How romantic! If I were Carol, I'd buy a gun.The climax of the movie has Tim Baker in a British Spitfire, going "mano a mano" with a German fighter pilot during an air battle. Tim is wounded in the exchange. I was hoping his plane would burst into flames and kill him, but no such luck.Instead, the move cuts back to England – and whaddaya know, Carol is worried sick about Tim, crying her eyes out, afraid he was killed because he hasn't returned from Dunkirk. It turns out she actually loves him! (Hey, guess what? She really IS "that dumb.")Carol and Morley go to the London docks to meet the last hospital ship bringing home wounded soldiers from Dunkirk. Carol spots Tim on the gangplank, runs up to him, and kisses him! She happily shows him the engagement ring that he forced onto her finger, which she couldn't get off. Tim smiles at Carol – then immediately gives the "brush off" to the lovely nurse that he met on the hospital ship, whom he was about to go out on a date with. "Sorry, honey, I won't be needing you tonight."What an incredible jerk! Tim and Carol head off together, and they are right back where they started. He will keep cheating on her, even after they're married; she will keep forgiving him. These two deserve each other! The movie has a few good points. It features some actual footage shot in England by future director Ronald Neame ("The Poseidon Adventure") of R.A.F. fighters and bombers flying and taking off. There are some realistic depictions of R.A.F. bombings over Berlin, and some exciting aerial dogfights between English and German fighters, plus a good on- the-ground depiction of the evacuation at Dunkirk. The special effects in the movie are well done for their time."A Yank in the R.A.F." was made in 1941, before the U.S. entry into World War II. Had the picture been made a year later, it probably would have included a patriotic "Hooray for our English allies" theme, and more wartime propaganda speeches. As it is, it's a romantic melodrama with shallow, stupid characters that trivializes the war and is best forgotten.

A Yank in the R.A.F. (1941)This is pretty thin going stuff, and yet it's fun and warm-hearted and tinged with the drama of the times.Context is everything here. 1941. The war is raging in Europe and Britain is being bombed by the Germans and they are trying to build up their forces to resist what seems to be an unstoppable foe. The U.S. is not yet in the war (that would happen in six months, but the movie makers couldn't know that for sure). All the U.S. is doing is supplying their future allies, Canada and Great Britain.But in the air here at home (I write this from New York) was a sense of inevitability--we would eventually be drawn in to fight. This movie is part of the gearing up for that fact.The lead is an American paradigm, Tyrone Power playing a cocky, charming, good-natured, and well-meaning young man who happens to be a pilot. What happens to him is what was happening to the country as a whole. And it boils down to this: he starts with innocence and selfishness and gets involved in stages, helping sell planes, helping fly planes, then actually doing battle runs over enemy territory.That gives nothing away--it's the title of the movie.What pulls him along? First just making some money. But then he meets an old flame played by Betty Grable (the number one pin-up girl for U.S. soldiers once they get involved) and Grable represents the U.S., too, because she's already in Britain helping the cause. Love ensues, but the problem is a handsome British soldier who begins to steal Grable's heart. A love triangle.And because this is practically al propaganda film (not officially of course) you know that it will leave the audience (us) with the proper message of about doing the right thing and supporting the cause against the Nazi regime. There is even the shocking if not surprising current event built into the movie of the Germans vowing not to invade certain lowland countries and then, of course, invading them anyway.Is this a great movie? Not by any means. But it's very well paced and the characters are warm and well-drawn, at least for such a "tale" as this. I wouldn't watch it a second time, but I'm glad I did this first one. And if you are the least bit interested in how Hollywood primed America for the war this slight film (along with "Casablanca" and many other movies) is a must-see.And for those who care, the airplane scenes were done with the really R.A.F. (and a different film crew than the rest of it). The director (except for those scenes) is Henry King, who got his pilot's license in 1918, and who lived so long that in his last years he was the oldest active pilot in the U.S. I'm sure he gave some authenticity to the film at least in spirit.

When I first read the reviews for A Yank in the R.A.F., I thought, come on, it can't be THAT bad! As a pilot myself, who is eternally enamored of historical aviation related movies, I went into this viewing experience thinking, Tyrone Power - the R.A.F. - it's got to be, at least, an O.K. flick. I was wrong.Some viewers complained about the aviation scenes as weak points (and some of the special effects simulations were weak - even by 1941 standards). I found the few minutes of actual footage of Spitfires, however, being refueled, rearmed and taking off in mass formations to be the only high point of the film. One scene of a Spitfire being brought in for refueling, with the wingtips being tended by the ground crew, as it spins around very quickly to line up with the refueling truck is especially awesome. The crewman on the wingtip on the outside of the turn looks like a rag doll as the Spit does a very fast 180 degree turn. This scene was from candid footage, clearly in full combat mode, and would never be seen today.Cinematography and character development are both effective. The problem is that once the characters are developed one realizes that it's impossible to care about (or even respect) either of the two American leads. Power's character, a combination of sophomoric imbecile/great heroic pilot (a combination I would challenge anyone to find in real life), was too much a distraction to be entertaining. Even WWII wasn't enough to straighten him out.There seemed to be hope for Grable's character. For a time one imagined that by movie's end she would be able to make a good decision and live in splendor in a beautiful country estate with a titled English gentleman for the rest of her life. But even that was a disappointment.

TYRONE POWER doesn't play his usual brand of hero, he's an irresponsible self-centered (but charming) heel -- the kind who usually gets the girl. This is a serious war film but it focuses mostly on a light hearted romance between Tyrone Power and Betty Grable. Set in the era just before America entered the war, it was up to the Brits to put a halt on Hitler. Quite a few Americans joined this effort and the story reflects the long challenge ahead -- long before victory.Interesting to see BETTY GRABLE in a 1941 film. She was the #1 pin-up girl of the World War II GI's. She wouldn't have been my choice but she was an inspiration to thousands of my betters; the older guys who fought the war while I was in grade school.Darryl F. Zanuch (producer/writer) and Henry King (director) were a hard pair to beat in terms of excellence. Looking back on 20th Century- Fox in the 1940's, Fox only made two kinds of pictures: pretty darn good and excellent. They set the most consistent high standard in film history and I defy anybody to name a bad movie by Fox in this decade -- or a good one in 2007.These days young people see dreadfully unpatriotic and dishonest films about the war. PEARL HARBOR "justified" the Japanese attack on the USA in the opening minutes --- and this was done for the stated purpose of insuring good box office in Japan. Equally bad in terms of patriotism was SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, wherein linguine-spined Steven Spielberg painted a yellow stripe on the backs of the Normandy Invasion heroes as well as the Sullivans, upon whose true story the film was cribbed. For the real story, look for THE LONGEST DAY and THE SULLIVANS, both on DVD.Seeing A YANK IN THE RAF" reminded me that Hollywood was once a pro-American industry, strongly patriotic, with numerous real war heroes working there and bragging not-at-all about their service to their country.