''Jungle Patrol'' (aka '' West of Tomorrow'') is a 1948 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by Joseph M. Newman and written by

Francis Swann Francis Swann (July 16, 1913 – August 27, 1983) was a playwright, novelist, and a film and television writer. He wrote several Broadway plays, most notable of which was ''Out of the Frying Pan''. He wrote a number of screenplays for Warner Bros. ...

and Robertson White. The film stars Kristine Miller,

Arthur Franz Arthur Sofield Franz (February 29, 1920 – June 17, 2006) was an American actor whose most notable feature film role was as Lieutenant, Junior Grade, H. Paynter Jr. in ''The Caine Mutiny (film), The Caine Mutiny'' (1954). Early life Franz ...

, Ross Ford,

Tommy Noonan Tommy Noonan (born Thomas Noone; April 29, 1921 – April 24, 1968) was a comedy genre film performer, screenwriter and producer. He acted in a number of high-profile films as well as B movies from the 1940s through the 1960s, and he is best ...

Gene Reynolds Eugene Reynolds Blumenthal (April 4, 1923 – February 3, 2020) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, and actor. He was one of the developers and producers of the TV series ''M*A*S*H''. Early life Reynolds was born on April 4, 1923, ...

and

Richard Jaeckel Richard Hanley Jaeckel (October 10, 1926 – June 14, 1997) was an American actor of film and television. Jaeckel became a well-known character actor in his career, which spanned six decades. He received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominatio ...

. The film was released on September 24, 1948, by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

. ''Jungle Patrol'' was set in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and was based on

William Bowers William Bowers (January 17, 1916 – March 27, 1987) was an American reporter, playwright, and screenwriter. He worked as a reporter in Long Beach, California and for ''Life'' magazine, and specialized in writing comedy-westerns. He also turn ...

' play ''West of Tomorrow''."Overview: 'Jungle Patrol' (1948)."
''The New York Times''. Retrieved: April 29, 2017."Movie detail: 'Jungle Patrol'."
''Afi.com''. Retrieved: April 29, 2017.

Plot

In 1942, eight

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

fighter pilots flying

P-40 The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time an ...

fighter aircraft and a support crew defend a remote airfield under construction in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

. Waves of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese attacks threaten the air base, and ultimately will lead to attacks on Australia. Spirits are raised when Jean Gillis ( Kristine Miller), an attractive

United Service Organizations The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

entertainer flies in on a supply aircraft from Brisbane, the first of a group of five entertainers coming to do a show for the troops. Jean gets to know the pilots and some of them tell her about their wives and sweethearts and their hopes for postwar life. Each day as they fly out, the pilots seem to be cheating death. The group has scored 100 victories without losing a man. One of the group recalls the 1934 film ''

Death Takes a Holiday ''Death Takes a Holiday'' is a 1934 American pre-Code romantic drama starring Fredric March, Evelyn Venable and Guy Standing. It is based on the 1924 Italian play ''La morte in vacanza'' by Alberto Casella (1891–1957), as adapted in English ...

'', where Death takes a few days off from extinguishing lives in order to explore human nature, and wonders if it is happening to them. During an attack on Japanese aircraft, as Jean listens to a radio monitoring their conversations , one pilot's aircraft catches fire but the flames mysteriously extinguish. Later, Jean finds a "scoreboard" detailing their missions, but when she displays it prominently, the men are uneasy. Maj. Wright (Ross Ford ), known affectionately as "Skipper," then receives a message that the rest of Jean's troupe is grounded, so she volunteers to do a solo show, after which she dances with several of the pilots. Lt. "Mace" Willard (

) tells Jean that he has seen her before in an anti-war play in New York. She reveals that her husband was killed at

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.

Cast

* Kristine Miller as Jean Gillis *

as Lt. "Mace" Willard * Ross Ford as Maj. Skipper Wright *

as Lt. "Ham" Hamilton *

as Lt. Marion Minor *

as Lt. Dick Carter *

Mickey Knox Abraham Knox (December 24, 1921 − November 15, 2013) was an American actor with nearly 80 films to his credit. Knox was also a screenwriter, film producer, and novelist. Knox was blacklisted during the McCarthy era, and he subsequently moved to ...

as Lt. Louie Rasti *

Harry Lauter Herman Arthur "Harry" Lauter (June 19, 1914 – October 30, 1990) was an American character actor. Early years Lauter was born in White Plains, New York. He worked as a model for a professional photographer and was a rodeo rider before m ...

as Lt. Derby * William Murphy as Lt. Johnny Murphy * G. Pat Collins as Sgt. Hanley

Production

Several

Curtiss P-40N Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk was a WWII fighter aircraft that was developed from the P-36 Hawk, via the P-37. Many variants were built, some in large numbers, under names including the Hawk, Tomahawk and Kittyhawk. Allison-engined Model 75 XP ...

fighters were hired for ''Jungle Patrol''. Other aerial sequences utilized stock footage and scale model work.Beck 2016, p. 132. The film's working title was "West of Tomorrow".

Reception

''Jungle Patrol'' had its world premiere on September 24, 1948 at a national convention of the

Air Force Association The Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) is an independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit, professional military association for the United States Air Force and United States Space Force. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, its declared mission is " ...

, held at the Hotel Commodore in New York. Reviewers commented on the film's "unusual, and economical, use of offscreen voices, heard on a radio intercom, to depict all of the battle sequences.""Notes: 'Jungle Patrol' (1948)."
''Turner Classic Movies''. Retrieved: April 29, 2017.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Beck, Simon D. ''The Aircraft-Spotter's Film and Television Companion''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 2016. .

External links

* *
'Jungle Patrol' at ''BFI''
{{Joseph M. Newman 1948 films 20th Century Fox films American drama films 1948 drama films Films directed by Joseph M. Newman American films based on plays American aviation films Films about the United States Army Air Forces Films scored by Emil Newman Films scored by Arthur Lange American black-and-white films Pacific War films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films