Almost Great, but merely okay in the end

Marlonius

This is a strange film...

There's a gripping story in there, and the dramatic bones of a great film are all present.

SPOILERS!!


It's the story of a fearless WW-II B-25 pilot (Ford). Fearless, we learn, because he has nothing to lose, and nobody in his life.

Eventually, he becomes involved with Lesley Anne Downe, a British nurse. Suddenly, his life is worth more to him, and he starts to crack under the pressure of being a bomber pilot.

Lesley for her part loves her husband, Christopher Plummer, but is bored by his reliable consistency, and ends up in the affair.

The twist: Plummer is actually a British agent. The second twist: Ford is selected to pilot Plummer behind enemy lines and drop him and his partner into occupied France. (Ford is selected for this mission as punishment for his earlier cowardice and belligerence toward a superior officer).

The mission goes badly, and the two leads are the only survivors of the shot down aircraft. They complete the mission together, becoming friends. Naturally, when Plummer talks about his wife, Ford realizes she's the same girl he's been seeing.

After some action, they escape, and Ford sends Downe back to her husband. Bittersweet ending, fade to black.

Like I said, the bones of the story make for a classic love triangle with plenty of WW2 action thrown in for good measure. There's a fair amount of innovation in the script, as all 3 parties in the triangle are likable, and either way it went, there would be no happy ending. The mission is exciting too.

The problem is the script itself. The dialogue tends to be bad, and that hurts the film badly. A few cliches don't help either (look for the Catch 22 inspired characters in Ford's plane.)

Personally, I feel that this film could have been one of the all time greats if only a little more work had gone into a script polish. I can definitely see why all the talented people involved said yes to it. Unfortunately, it never quite lives up to it's potential.

score /10

Marlonius 17 December 2003

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0168103/