''Flat Top'' (also released as ''Eagles of the Fleet'') is a 1952 American
drama war film filmed in
Cinecolor
Cinecolor was an early subtractive color-model two-color motion picture process that was based upon the Prizma system of the 1910s and 1920s and the Multicolor system of the late 1920s and the 1930s. It was developed by William T. Crispinel and ...
, directed by
Lesley Selander and starring
Sterling Hayden, with early appearances from
Phyllis Coates,
Jack Larson,
Richard Carlson, and
William Schallert.
The film earned
William Austin an
Academy Award nomination for
Best Film Editing in 1953.
Plot
The film begins on board an aircraft carrier off from the coast of Korea during the
Korean War. Commander Collier (
Hayden Hayden may refer to:
Places Inhabited places in the United States
*Hayden, Alabama
*Hayden, Arizona
*Hayden's Ferry, former name of Tempe, Arizona
*Hayden, California, former name of Hayden Hill, California
*Hayden, Colorado
*Hayden, Idaho
*Hayden ...
) is the Commander Air Group (CAG), or Air Boss, in charge of air operations on the carrier, or 'flat top'. When asked about how he first handled his job, he goes back to the time of
World War II, where the rest of the film takes place. Told in flashback form, Collier recounts the war in the Pacific, working flight ops on the same carrier as the Fighter Squadron Commander with a new Executive Officer, LT Joe Rogers (
Carlson), and getting a group of fighter pilots ready for the tough fight to come against the Japanese.
Cast
*
Sterling Hayden as Cmdr. Dan Collier
*
Richard Carlson as Lt. (j.g.) Joe Rodgers
*
William Phipps as Red Kelley (as Bill Phipps)
*
John Bromfield as Ens. Snakehips McKay
*
Keith Larsen as Ens. Barney Smith / Barney Oldfield
*
William Schallert as Ens. Longfellow
*
Todd Karns as Judge
*
Phyllis Coates as Dorothy Collier
*
Dave Willock as Willie
*
Walter Coy as Air Group Commander
*
Jack Larson as "Scuttlebutt" Sailor
See also
*
Sterling Hayden filmography
Sterling Hayden
Sterling Walter Hayden (born Sterling Relyea Walter; March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986) was an American actor, author, sailor and decorated Marine Corps officer and an Office of Strategic Services' agent during World War II. A l ...
References
External links
*
1952 films
1952 drama films
1950s war drama films
1950s English-language films
American war drama films
Films directed by Lesley Selander
Films produced by Walter Mirisch
World War II aviation films
Cinecolor films
Pacific War films
Monogram Pictures films
1950s American films
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