Enterprise Tiger Leaping

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Movie
German title Enterprise Tiger Leaping
Original title Flying Tigers
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1942
length 97 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director David Miller
script Kenneth Gamet
Barry Trivers
production Edmund Grainger
music Victor Young
camera Jack Marta
cut Ernest Nims
occupation

Enterprise Tigersprung (original title Flying Tigers ) is an American war film directed by David Miller . In his first war film after the USA entered World War II , John Wayne plays the commander of an air squadron that is deployed against the Japanese. The other leading roles are cast with John Carroll , Anna Lee and Paul Kelly .

It is a Republic Pictures film distributed by Gloria and received three Academy Award nominations. Kenneth Gamet wrote the original story on which the script is based.

action

In late 1941, before the United States entered World War II, the rough-and-tumble Captain Jim Gordon leads a team of American pilots who have volunteered to help the Chinese repel their Japanese invaders. Every time he loses a man, the captain is desperate, even though he himself takes great risks. His men are outnumbered, which puts additional strain on him. He scornfully dismisses bullet holes in the body of his machine with the word “flea bites”. Gordon is supported by his right hand Hap Davis and the nurse Brooke Elliott, with whom he is in a relationship. Camaraderie and team spirit are important to the captain, something that he always emphasizes and implements himself. In one of these missions, the young Dale, who took part as a pilot for the first time, is fatally injured. When Brooke gives Gordon a small bundle of Dale's belongings, he puts it in his drawer with other valuables from other fallen soldiers. He feels responsible because he has given in to the insistence of the young man who has just finished flying school. Gordon decides to fly to Rangoon to find replacement pilots. There he is approached by Blackie Bales, an old acquaintance, who pleads with him to include him in his season. He had once caused an accident while drunk, in which a comrade died. Gordon refuses, but shortly afterwards, without her husband's knowledge, Verna Bales convinces him that he must give Blackie one last chance, because her husband could never be happy again without the flight. Gordon gives in.

When the idiosyncratic Woody Jason joins the Flying Tigers, it becomes clear during his landing approach that he is only following his own rules. He immediately tries to flirt with Gordon's girlfriend Brooke, but she lets him down. Jason makes it clear to the others that these missions are a business for him, for which he collects money, that is his motivation, because this war does not concern him. His fellow pilots look to the side in piquancy. Despite Gordon's instruction that he must complete special training first, he grabs a machine when the Japanese attack and mounts. He is neither wearing headphones nor ammunition on board, so Gordon is radioed and informed of the matter. When Jason tries to shoot and realizes that he has no ammunition, it is almost too late because he is being shot at. Only an emergency landing with the then almost scrap-ripe machine can save him. When Gordon reproaches him, he disregards it in his frivolous manner. In his comrades, his unauthorized behavior and his arrogant manner arouse increasing aversion to him. On one of these missions it is more important to him to shoot down another machine than to help his comrade Blackie, who is in distress, which results in his death. However, Jason contradicts Gordon this assessment of his fellow aviators. The captain believes him. Without the knowledge of the others, Jason goes to Blackie's wife to bring her the last letter from her husband and to tell her about his "heroic" behavior. To make things a little easier for Verna Bales, he speaks highly of Blackie and his successes. Before leaving, he hands her a wad of money that supposedly belonged to Blackie.

When night flights are scheduled, all men must be examined, which turns out that Hap Smith's eyesight is deteriorating. Gordon has the bitter task of telling his friend that he can never fly again. Instead, he offers Hap the supervision of all ground staff. Before he has made a decision, a strict vacation ban is imposed, which Jason does not adhere to, so that he is not available for a short-term assignment. Hap steps in for him without Gordon's knowledge, although he is no longer supposed to fly, and a fatal collision with an enemy aircraft occurs. Deeply affected, Gordon dismisses Jason from his season.

Colonel Lindsay arrives at the Flying Tigers with a new assignment, an important bridge over which the Japanese secure their supplies is to be destroyed. This suicide mission Gordon will not expose his men and decides to fly alone. However, Jason has sneaked himself into the machine and takes Gordon off guard by simply taking off. In the cockpit there is a clarifying discussion between the two of them and Gordon agrees to master the task together. They manage to throw off the nitroglycerine and destroy the bridge. Jason is hit by the Japanese, which he keeps a secret from Gordon. In addition, the hold of your aircraft catches fire. Jason makes Gordon jump off, then steers the plane back, knowing for sure that this will mean his death, and crashes it over the Japanese train bringing supplies.

After a reconciliation between Gordon and Brooke, the next mission is already on the agenda.

Production and DVD

The shooting took place from April 27 to June 24, 1942. The exterior shots were taken in Santa Fe , New Mexico , as the imposing cloud formations required there often covered the sky, as well as in Flagstaff , Arizona . The film had the working titles Yanks Over the Burma Road and Yanks Over Singapore . Also A Yank on the Burma Road, according to the Hollywood Reporter . After the opening credits, a picture of the Chinese politician Chiang Kai-Shek is faded in and he is quoted as saying: “Since the Flying Tigers have spread their wings across China's skies, the enemy has felt their fearlessness in the face of their superior strength. They became a symbol of the invincible strength of the forces that now stand for justice and humanity. The Chinese people will forever remember their glorious deeds. ”In the film, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt can be heard during the radio address he gave on the occasion of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The film premiered in the United States on October 8, 1942. In the Federal Republic of Germany it was first released on July 2, 1954, in Austria a few days earlier on June 25, 1954.

In April 1989 a colored version was broadcast in the USA.

Company Tigersprung has appeared on DVD in the series The large John Wayne DVD Collection under number 55, published by DeAgostini and Studiocanal in July 2013. A 14-page booklet is included with the DVD. Lighthouse Home Entertainment released the film on DVD on August 23, 2010, as did the John Wayne Original Movie Box , which contains three other Wayne films.

Background information

According to information in the Dailey Variety News on January 30, 1942, Republic Pictures bought the original story, The Flying Tigers, from Charles M. Ross; However, it is not known whether he actually had a share in the finished film. The screenwriters Barry Trivet and Kenneth Gamet let their imaginations run wild and did not strictly adhere to historical facts. The studio's original idea to also portray Chiang Kai-Shek in the film by an actor was stopped by the Hays Office , which found it inappropriate to show the Generalissimo without permission. In the original script, Woody Jason was supposed to return to the American base, but the scenes were rewritten. A copy of the script went to Laraine Day , who was under contract with MGM at the time , and who was under discussion for the role of Brooke Elliott. MGM also loaned director David Miller and actor John Carroll. Victor Young, in turn, who wrote the score, was under contract with Paramount Pictures and was loaned from there. The technical advisors Lawrence Moore and Kenneth Sanger were actually members of the Flying Tigers, who were no longer operational after a deployment in Burma. In addition to documentary material from newsreels, the filming worked with models that had been constructed by Howard Lydecker. Together with his brother Theodore, he was considered one of the best film technicians in Hollywood. For the recordings on the ground, models on a scale of 1: 1 made of plywood and balsa wood were built, whereby you had to rely on your imagination when equipping the cockpit, since original instruments were not allowed to be copied in times of war. Miniature models were also used for the action scenes, including the impressive attack scene on the bridge at the end of the film. The thin wires on which the planes hung were invisible in the coarse-grained images.

The Leaping Company was the first of five John Wayne films made during World War II. For David Miller it was only his fourth full-length feature film. John Wayne was his preferred candidate for the role of Capt. Jim Gordon. He said that Wayne was a "credible war hero" and that there was "no other actor" who "embodied patriotism and seriousness as convincingly as Wayne did." Gordon Jones starred at Wayne's side for the first time in this film. They both got along very well, so they worked together on three more films, the last time in MacLintock in 1963 ! . Five months before the premiere, Jones died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of only 52 .

The British Anna Lee played the female lead and said she first saw Wayne in the film Ringo and fell madly in love with him. As early as 1940, she had worked with the actor in The House of Seven Sins . Duke, as she wasn't the only one to call him, got her roles in his films more often. As a blonde woman, she had no chance with him because he was into dark-haired Latino women, but they became friends.

Bill Shirley, who plays the Dale, switched to singing and a second career after his acting career. According to the Hollywood Reporter, there was to be a sequel to Flying Tigers under the title The Sky Dragons , but that didn't happen. In 1966 the rights to the film were acquired by the producer Richard Michaels, who wanted to develop a television series from it. However, the project was not completed. Wayne's next film was another war film Jules Dassin's Reunion in France ( Reunion in France ).

American Volunteer Group - Flying Tigers

The American Volunteer Group (AVG) was an American squadron that consisted of volunteers and fought against the Japanese army in China and Burma . The Flying Tigers, as they were mostly just called, were founded in 1941 by Captain Claire Lee Chennault in Kunming . The Flying Tigers had their first combat mission on December 20, 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor . The film suggests that it was before. By the time it was disbanded in July 1942, the Flying Tigers shot down almost 300 enemy machines and 1,500 Japanese soldiers lost their lives. The AVG lost 69 machines, 25 pilots were killed. The squadron remained undefeated in over 50 aerial battles with Japanese aircraft, noted Chennault in his 1949 autobiography Way of a Fighter .

The film is loosely based on the work of the real American Volunteer Group. The Chinese government paid a bonus for every Japanese plane that was shot down. After the end of World War II, Chennault set up a private airline. The Flying Tiger Line, led by AVG pilot Bob Prescott, became one of the largest air freight companies in the United States.

The film, which was shot after the attack on Pearl Harbor, pays homage to the heroic deeds of the US pilots and takes a clear stand against Japan . The Japanese pilots are mostly portrayed with a sneaky grin that they do not lose in the face of death. On December 7, 1941, Japanese planes attacked the Navy's Pacific fleet , leading to the United States' entry into World War II.

Second Sino-Japanese War

The Japanese invasion of China, which began on July 7, 1937 and lasted until September 9, 1945, is referred to as the Second Sino-Japanese War . After the attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 on the United States ' Pacific fleet anchored there , which triggered the United States' entry into the war , it was a scene of the Pacific War and thus part of the Second World War .

John Wayne - war hero on screen

The actor, who was almost 35 when he was filming Tiger Leaping, was exempted from military service to his chagrin due to a slight shoulder injury from his time as a young football player. Wayne struggled all his life with his decision not to volunteer. Frustrated, he complained repeatedly during filming that he was only a hero on the screen, but not at war. Miller later recalled that the actor once groaned: "My God, David, what do people think when they see me defeat the Japanese here, but in reality never was in the Army?" He had to reassure him tried by saying that no one could play the role more convincingly than he did. "Every American who sees you in this movie in the cinema will feel safer afterwards, because he knows that it is men like you who fearlessly stand up to the enemy." He should finally stop torturing himself with accusations. Director David Miller and producer Edmund Grainger said goodbye to the film and joined the Army. "I guess our decision made Duke feel even worse," suggested Miller.

Director George Sherman reported that Wayne was not in very good shape, unlike his powerful heroes he played. He suffered from shoulder and back pain and had hearing problems, a memory of the diving scenes from his film Pirates in the Caribbean Sea (1942). Although Wayne's unsuitability was confirmed by the military authorities, the rumor persisted that Hollywood studio bosses had vehemently opposed the star's entry into the Army, since he could be made more profit on the big screen than as a soldier in the front line. Wayne would have needed his employer's approval to join the Army voluntarily. In fact, the war films with him were great financial successes. The gross receipts for this film are said to have exceeded $ 2 million. By a large margin, it was one of the top grossing films of the year and a huge success for Republic Pictures.

criticism

After the movie Tiger Leaping started in the cinemas, the reaction of the critics was initially restrained. Variety spoke of a "conventional aviation drama" and mocked that the scriptwriters of the "hackneyed story" did not understand how to "breathe new life" into it.

TMP of the New York Times, however, spoke of a "patchwork story full of exciting aerial battles". Although the film "contains a foreword by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, it is primarily a romantic adventure story and only incidentally a record of the deeds of the famous American volunteer group that made history in the sky above China." Although the story often revolves around the antics of Woody Jason, the central character of the drama is the serious John Wayne, a loftily motivated squadron leader. [...] Mr. Wayne is the kind of guy who instills confidence and he does a lot to keep the movie on a fairly steady level. 'Flying Tigers' is everything the title implies and a good deal more.

For the Lexicon of International Films it was a "partly martial, partly romantic [s] war adventure with a decidedly anti-Japanese tendency."

Despite the sometimes negative reviews, the film developed into Republic Pictures' biggest box office hit and brought the studio a decent profit.

Awards

Instead of Howard Lydecker and Daniel J. Bloomberg, Farciot Edouart , Gordon Jennings , William L. Pereira and Louis Mesenkop received the Oscar for "Best Visual Effects" in the John Wayne film Pirates in the Caribbean Sea at the 1943 Academy Awards .

Daniel J. Bloomberg was nominated for an Oscar for "Best Sound," but had to admit defeat to Nathan Levinson and the film musical Yankee Doodle Dandy .

The Oscar for “Best Film Music” did not go to Victor Young either , but to Max Steiner and the literary adaptation Journey from the Past . Young was nominated for an Oscar in 1943 for three other soundtracks. It was the third time that he was on the suggestion list four times in a year. In total, he was nominated 22 times for the film award.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Flying Tigers (1942) at Classic Film Guide (English). Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  2. ↑ Flying Tigers (1942) - Original Print Information. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved April 12, 2020 (English).
  3. ↑ a b c d Flying Tigers (1942) - Notes. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved April 12, 2020 (English).
  4. ^ Flying Tigers (1942) - Miscellaneous Notes. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved April 12, 2020 (English).
  5. ↑ Tiger Leaping Company DVD + booklet
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j The great John Wayne DVD Collection No. 55 Company Tigersprung by DeAgostini, Verlag DeAgostini Deutschland GmbH, Hamburg, Editor: Ariane Ossowski, Holger Neuhaus, Joachim Seidel, 2013, p. 1, 3-7.
  7. ↑ Flying Tigers (1942) - Trivia. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved April 12, 2020 (English).
  8. ↑ Review: Flying Tigers at variety.com (English). Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  9. ↑ TMP: Flying Tigers (1942) In: The New York Times, October 23, 1942 (English). Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  10. ↑ Tiger Leaping Company at zweiausendeins.de. Retrieved March 1, 2014.