Flying Tigers (film)
| Flying Tigers | |
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Theatrical release title lobby card
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| Directed by | David Miller |
| Produced by | Edmund Grainger |
| Written by | Kenneth Gamet Barry Trivers |
| Starring |
John Wayne John Carroll Anna Lee |
| Music by | Victor Young |
| Cinematography | Jack A. Marta |
| Edited by | Ernest J. Nims |
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Production
company |
Republic Pictures
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| Distributed by | Republic Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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102 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English, Japanese, Cantonese |
| Box office | $1.5 million (US rentals) |
Flying Tigers (a.k.a. Yank Over Singapore and Yanks Over the Burma Road) is a 1942 black-and-white World War II film from Republic Pictures, produced by Edmund Grainger, directed by David Miller that stars John Wayne, John Carroll, and Anna Lee.
Flying Tigers dramatizes the exploits of the American Volunteer Group (AVG), Americans already fighting the enemy in China prior to the U. S. entry into the second world war. It is unabashedly a wartime propaganda film that was well received by a 1940s populace looking for a patriotic "flagwaver".
Jim Gordon (John Wayne in his first war film) leads the Flying Tigers, a squadron of freelance American pilots who fly Curtiss P-40B fighters against Japanese aircraft in the skies over China. The pilots are a mixed bunch, motivated by money (they receive a bounty for each aircraft shot down), or just the thrill of aerial combat.
One day, old friend and former airline pilot Woody Jason (John Carroll) signs up under Jim's command. An arrogant, hot-shot aviator, he starts causing trouble immediately. When the Japanese raid the Flying Tigers' airbase, the enthusiastic new arrival goes after them, taking up a P-40 fighter without permission, not realizing until too late that it has no ammunition. As a result, Woody is shot down. He is unharmed after his fighter crash lands, but the precious P-40 fighter is a total wreck. As time goes on, Woody shows that he has little use for teamwork, alienating and endangering the other pilots. He abandons his wingman, Blackie Bales (Edmund MacDonald), in order to shoot down a Japanese aircraft. As a result, Blackie comes under fire from another and must bail out of his burning P-40. While hanging suspended in his parachute, he is strafed to death by the Japanese pilot.
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Wikipedia