''Sabre Jet'' is a 1953 American

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war fi ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

directed by

Louis King Louis King (June 28, 1898 – September 7, 1962) was an American actor and film director of westerns and adventure movies in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s.

starring

Robert Stack Robert Stack (born Charles Langford Modini Stack; January 13, 1919 – May 14, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his deep voice and commanding presence, he appeared in over forty feature films. He starred in the highly successful ABC telev ...

Coleen Gray Coleen Gray (born Doris Bernice Jensen; October 23, 1922 – August 3, 2015) was an American actress. She was best known for her roles in the films '' Nightmare Alley'' (1947), '' Red River'' (1948), and Stanley Kubrick's '' The Killing'' ( ...

Richard Arlen Richard Arlen (born Sylvanus Richard Mattimore, September 1, 1899 – March 28, 1976) was an American actor of film and television. Biography Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Arlen attended the University of Pennsylvania. He served in Canada as a ...

Julie Bishop Julie Isabel Bishop (born 17 July 1956) is an Australian former politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2018 and deputy leader of the Liberal Party from 2007 to 2018. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Curtin ...

and

Leon Ames Leon Ames (born Harry L. Wycoff;U.S. Federal Census for 1910 for Fowler, Center Township, Benton County, State of Indiana, access via Ancestry.com January 20, 1902 – October 12, 1993) was an American film and television actor. He is best rememb ...

. Shot 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 ...

using

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

footage. ''Sabre Jet'' was based on a story by the producer Carl Krueger with the screenplay written by the husband and wife playwright and screenwriting team of Dale Eunson and

Katherine Albert Katherine Albert (sometimes credited as Katherine Eunson, her married name) was an American screenwriter, playwright, and TV writer. Biography Katherine was born in Kentucky, the only child of George Albert and Logie Bell Evans Albert. As a yo ...

. The opening credits state: "This picture is dedicated to the air force wives who shared their men with a world made desperate by the most brutal aggressor in history."

Plot

The

at Itazuke Air Base during the

has a visitor: Jane Carter (

), a female journalist who wishes to do a feature story on the wives of the American pilots. Jane admits to the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

commander General Hale (

) that she is the wife of one of his

squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, ...

leaders, Colonel Gil Manton (

). This is news to everyone. Gil and Jane have been separated for two years. Jane prefers life under her former name as a major journalist with frequent travel, while Gil prefers a wife who will stay home and have a family. Gil is not only upset that Jane left their anniversary celebration to get a story from the wife of a

Death Row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...

prisoner about to be executed, but Gil feels Jane callously used and exploited the woman for a story. Gil has kept their separation a secret as a divorce would hurt his career. Jane meets the wives and learns their motivations and that though they are open with each other, they hide their fears from their husbands lest it affect their performance. Meanwhile, with the Korean War raging, military intelligence has discovered A

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

n air base filled with Soviet-built

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (russian: Микоя́н и Гуре́вич МиГ-15; USAF/DoD designation: Type 14; NATO reporting name: Fagot) is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich for the Soviet Union. The MiG-15 was one of ...

fighter jets and piston engine

Yakovlev Yak-9 The Yakovlev Yak-9 (russian: Яковлев Як-9) is a single-engine, single-seat multipurpose fighter aircraft used by the Soviet Union and its allies during World War II and the early Cold War. It was a development of the robust and successf ...

aircraft threatening the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

forces. General Hale wishes to lead a carefully synchronized combined

airstrike An airstrike, air strike or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighters, heavy bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters and drones. The offic ...

Boeing B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...

bombers escorted by

North American F-86 Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing So ...

to deal with the enemy aircraft and

Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star was the first jet fighter used operationally by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during World War II. Designed and built by Lockheed in 1943 and delivered just 143 days from the start of design, prod ...

ground-attack aircraft An attack aircraft, strike aircraft, or attack bomber is a tactical military aircraft that has a primary role of carrying out airstrikes with greater precision than bombers, and is prepared to encounter strong low-level air defenses while pres ...

to destroy the enemy’s anti-aircraft defenses. General Hale’s superiors are sympathetic but inform the General that approval for such a massive combined operation can take a long time to approve. General Hale replies that the

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the sea ...

in North Korea will begin in a week that would make the operation impossible after it has begun. General Hale disobeys orders by personally flying an F-86 on a

reconnaissance mission In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmishers, ...

without escort over the target. After he is aloft, intelligence discovers the air base is located elsewhere and that what the General is flying over is a stronghold full of anti-aircraft weapons and enemy fighter aircraft. The General is shot down; Jane is with the General's wife Marge (

) when Gil breaks the news of the loss of the General. Marge's incredible composure and courage brings Jane to tears and makes her reevaluate her marriage and behavior towards Gil. Gil takes over command of the fighter wing and leads the escort mission protecting F-80 fighter-bombers and B-29 bombers on an attack against the North Korean air base. While their mission is successful, Gil loses three jet pilots. After consoling the wives of the pilots that were lost, Gil see Jane waiting for him at the gate, and they embrace.

Cast

as Col. Gil Manton *

as Mrs. Gil Manton aka Jane Carter *

as Gen. Robert Hale *

as Mrs. Marge Hale *

as Lt. Col. George Eckert *

Amanda Blake Amanda Blake (born Beverly Louise Neill, February 21, 1929 – August 16, 1989) was an American actress best known for the role of the red-haired saloon proprietress "Miss Kitty Russell" on the western television series ''Gunsmoke''. Along with ...

as Helen Daniel * Reed Sherman as Lt. Ronnie Crane *

Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism. Moore won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ' ...

as Sgt. Klinger * Lucy Knoch as Lee Crane * Tom Irish as Lt. Bill Crenshaw *

Kathleen Crowley Kathleen Crowley (born Betty Jane Crowley; December 26, 1929 – April 23, 2017) was an American actress. She appeared more than 100 times in movies and television series in the 1950s and 1960s, almost always as a leading lady. Biography E ...

as Susan Crenshaw *

Jerry Paris William Gerald Paris (July 25, 1925 – March 31, 1986) was an American actor and director best known for playing Jerry Helper, the dentist and next-door neighbor of Rob and Laura Petrie, on ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'', and for directing the majo ...

as Capt. Bert Flanagan *

Jan Shepard Jan Shepard (born Josephine Angela Sorbello) is a retired American actress. Early years Josephine Angela Sorbello was born in Quakertown, Pennsylvania in 1928 to parents of Sicilian descent, Mr. and Mrs. Sam Sorbello. She was valedictorian of h ...

as Betty Flanagan

Production

Producer Carl Krueger had previously produced the

William Wyler William Wyler (; born Willi Wyler (); July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) was a Swiss-German-American film director and producer who won the Academy Award for Best Director three times, those being for ''Mrs. Miniver'' (1942), ''The Best Years of O ...

aviation film '' Thunderbolt!'' (1947) that was shot during

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 ...

but not released until after the conflict. The film was announced in February 1953. Krueger would make it independently for United Artists. ''Sabre Jet'' was made in cooperation with the United States Air Force and used four Korean War veterans of the air war as technical advisors. The film was mostly shot at

Nellis Air Force Base Nellis Air Force Base ("Nellis" colloq.) is a United States Air Force installation in southern Nevada. Nellis hosts air combat exercises such as Exercise Red Flag and close air support exercises such as Green Flag-West flown in " Military ...

near Las Vegas but also featured extensive use of actual World War II aerial combat film footage.Beck 2016, p. 172. When ''Sabre Jet'' eventually was relegated to television broadcasts, the film was screened in a black-and-white version.Beck 2016, p. 171. The aircraft seen in ''Sabre Jet'' include Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star fighters as well as F-86 Sabres. Other aircraft included

Republic F-84 Thunderjet The Republic F-84 Thunderjet was an American turbojet fighter-bomber aircraft. Originating as a 1944 United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) proposal for a "day fighter", the F-84 first flew in 1946. Although it entered service in 1947, the Thu ...

Aeronca Aeronca, contracted from Aeronautical Corporation of America, located in Middletown, Ohio, is a US manufacturer of engine components and airframe structures for commercial aviation and the defense industry, and a former aircraft manufacturer. Fr ...

L-16A,

Douglas A-26 Invader The Douglas A-26 Invader (designated B-26 between 1948 and 1965) is an American twin-engined light bomber and ground attack aircraft. Built by Douglas Aircraft Company during World War II, the Invader also saw service during several major Col ...

and Boeing B-29 Superfortress (in archive footage).Santoir, Christian
"Review: 'Sabre Jet'."
''Aeromovies''. Retrieved: March 23, 2017. A number of F-86 Sabres were repainted to act as MiG-15s.

Reception

''Sabre Jet'' was premiered in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

, on September 3, 1953, during the National Air Show, in the presence of nine Korean aces, including Joseph McConnell Jr. The film was critically reviewed by

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. He noted: ""You'd never guess it from the title, but the little picture called 'Sabre Jet', which opened last night at the Criterion, is a great deal more concerned with the bravery of the wives of jet pilots than with that of the fellows who fly the planes." Aviation film historian Simon D. Beck in his book ''The Aircraft-Spotter's Film and Television Companion'', considered ''Sabre Jet'', a "... thoughtful if emotionally distant" account of the air war in Korea. In similar reviews, aviation film historian Stephen Pendo, in ''Aviation in the Cinema'', described ''Sabre Jet'', a "weak" example of the air war in Korea, especially singling out the female characters as being a stereotype of military wives, who were "... overly hysterical" when their husbands went to war. In a similar assessment, Aviation film historian Michael Paris in ''From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema'', noted that the film was built around two elements, the missions flown by "Sabre" fighter pilots, and the effect on their families.Paris 1995, p. 189.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Beck, Simon D. ''The Aircraft-Spotter's Film and Television Companion''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 2016. . * Call, Steven. ''Selling Air Power: Military Aviation and American Popular Culture After World War II''. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 2009. . * Lentz, Robert J. ''Korean War Filmography: 91 English Language Features through 2000''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2000. . * Paris, Michael. ''From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema.'' Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995. . * Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. .

External links

* * * {{Edward Small 1953 films 1953 drama films Korean War aviation films United Artists films Cinecolor films Films about the United States Air Force Films directed by Louis King Films scored by Herschel Burke Gilbert Films set in Japan Japan in non-Japanese culture 1950s war drama films American war drama films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films