Combat squadron fire dragons

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Movie
German title Combat squadron fire dragons
Original title Dragonfly Squadron
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1954
length 83 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Lesley Selander
script John C. Champion
production John C. Champion
music Paul Dunlap
camera Harry Neumann
cut Walter Hannemann
occupation

Fighting Season Fire Dragons is an American war film directed by Lesley Selander from 1954. It takes place shortly before and during the invasion of South Korea by North Korean troops. The film premiered in Germany on July 19, 1957.

action

In May 1950, Major Matt Brady was transferred to Pusan , South Korea. There he will train South Korean pilots in defensive combat. Air support in the event that Americans have to be evacuated is also being rehearsed. Colonel Schuller sends Brady to Kungju Air Force Base with Captain MacIntyre. The American instructors have 25 days to familiarize the South Korean pilots with US tactics.

At the base, Brady meets Donna Cottrell with whom he had an affair. Donna's husband, the Red Cross doctor Dr. Stephen Cottrell, allegedly killed in the war. When Donna finds out that Stephen is alive - he was captured and was able to escape - she returns to him. She tells Matt that Stephen can no longer work as a surgeon because his hands were badly injured from torture. She wants to do the right thing, but she feels torn between the two men.

The training of the South Korean pilots is progressing, which reporter Dixon is closely watching. Captain Veddors tells the reporter that Matt stopped flying because he caused a fatal collision with a test pilot. Matt receives an encrypted message announcing a major enemy attack. MacIntyre informs Matt that Lieutenant Kim-Sun is unable to fly due to his sister's illness. But Matt needs every man, Kim-Sun dies when his machine crashes. The pilots then make serious accusations to Matt. MacIntyre suspects that the pilot's machine has been sabotaged.

Colonel Schuller orders the evacuation of all Americans and orders Matt to put the South Korean pilots on active duty. Stephen stays in Kungju to continue working there, Donna leaves the base in a convoy. The convoy is attacked by two tanks. Colonel Conners warns Matt that air support is not available for the convoy. However, the UN sanction allows US infantry to intervene. Matt stays on the base with Veddors and MacIntyre.

News of the invasion of South Korea is coming soon. Captain Warnowski and his infantry battalion arrive in Kungju. Due to heavy tank attacks, only 30 of the original 400 men are left. The infantrymen found the wounded Captain Wyler and took him away. Wyler was the driver of the truck that Donna rode. Before he dies, he can tell Matt about Donna's successful escape. The enemy attacks are getting heavier, North Korean planes damage the airfield. Matt and Warnowski decide to withdraw. South Koreans identify an old woman as a spy who has radioed information about the base to the enemy and execute her.

Matt and his remaining troops come under heavy fire. Matt is wounded in the arm, Veddors killed. In the village of Chungtu they reach the Red Cross Hospital that Donna will soon reach. There she learns that Stephen was killed in the fighting. The enemy tanks follow suit and force the survivors to retreat further. It is only when US planes attack and stop the approaching tanks that Matt, Donna and the rest of the convoy escape.

Reviews

The Lexicon of International Films describes the film as “a typical war film for this epoch with a tendency to motivate the average American to work in the Far East. Well-crafted, semi-documentary aerial combat sequences. "

background

The life of the film's military advisor, Colonel Dean Hess, was filmed three years later by Douglas Sirk under the title Battle Hymn (Eng: The Angel with the Bloody Wings ). Rock Hudson played the US pilot and later politician.

According to the Hollywood Reporter , the Allied Artists production cost $ 300,000 and grossed $ 700,000.

Before his acting career, Bruce Bennett was a well-known and successful track and field athlete. Under his birth name Herman Brix, he won the silver medal in the shot put at the 1928 Olympic Games . In 1931 he began to work as an actor, where he was best known as a Tarzan actor. In total, he acted in more than 140 films. He chose his stage name Bruce Bennett in order not to be confused with the Austrian actor Hermann Brix .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fire Dragons Combat Squadron. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed May 28, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ^ Dragonfly Squadron (1954) Notes. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved May 11, 2019 .