''Sky Commando'' is a 1953 American

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 ...

released by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

, directed by Fred F. Sears and starring

Dan Duryea Dan Duryea ( , January 23, 1907 – June 7, 1968) was an American actor in film, stage, and television. Known for portraying a vast range of character roles as a villain, he nonetheless had a long career in a wide variety of leading and seconda ...

Frances Gifford Mary Frances Gifford (December 7, 1920 – January 22, 1994) was an American actress who played leads and supporting roles in many 1930s and 1940s movies. Early years Gifford was born and raised in Long Beach, California, and at the age of 16, ...

and

Mike Connors Krekor Ohanian (August 15, 1925 – January 26, 2017), known professionally as Mike Connors, was an American actor best known for playing private detective Joe Mannix in the CBS television series ''Mannix'' from 1967 to 1975, a role which earned ...

(credited as "Touch Conners"). The

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

period provides the background, although the plot concerns a flashback to

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 ...

aerial action. ''Sky Commando'' was the last major film feature for Frances Gifford as her postwar career was affected by serious personal problems. The film was one of Connors' first, having made his debut in ''

Sudden Fear ''Sudden Fear'' is a 1952 American film noir thriller film directed by David Miller, and starring Joan Crawford and Jack Palance in a tale about a successful woman who marries a murderous man. The screenplay by Lenore J. Coffee and Robert Smit ...

'' (1952); he had previously appeared in Sears' ''

The 49th Man ''The 49th Man'' is a 1953 American film noir crime film directed by Fred F. Sears and starring John Ireland and Richard Denning. It was released by Columbia Pictures. The Cold War thriller was based on a story by Ivan Tors and the screenplay w ...

'', earlier in 1953.

Plot

During the

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 ...

, while American Air Force pilots Lt. John Willard ( William Bryant) and his brother Frank (Dick Paxton) are flying a routine reconnaissance mission, their commanding officer, Col. Ed Wyatt (

) orders them to bomb an enemy position. Frank's aircraft is shot down, and John returns to confront his commander over the reason for the dangerous mission. Wyatt's executive officer, Maj. Scott ( Michael Fox) stops him and relates a story about Wyatt's career during World War II. In the 8th Air Force, Wyatt commanded a bomber group whose reconnaissance missions provided valuable information for future bombing raids. War correspondent Jo McWethy (

) who was assigned to cover Wyatt's group, wanted to know the truth about his reputation for being a hard-driving and unsympathetic commanding officer. His pilots held Wyatt responsible for the death of his co-pilot during a dangerous mission and new co-pilot, Lt. Hobson "Hobbie" Lee (

), becomes the replacement. During a "milk-run", Wyatt changed the mission to photograph heavily defended

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

. German anti-aircraft batteries shot down several fighter escorts and badly damaged Wyatt's aircraft, killing three of his crew. Nursing the stricken bomber back home, Wyatt made the decision to dump everything to save the aircraft and its important film. Hobbie and waist-gunner Danny Nelson (Freeman Morse) had to ditch the bodies of the dead crew and parachute out. Wyatt then flew back with the injured navigator aboard. During his recuperation, Hobbie met Jo who was also unsure about Wyatt's decisions and when Hobbie followed Wyatt to

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

, he was seeking confirmation that his commander was a ruthless martinet. During a dangerous mission over Romanian oil fields, Wyatt's bomber was shot down. Although five of the crew were saved, gunner Danny Nelson was killed. With the aid of partisans, Hobbie reconciled with the badly wounded Wyatt, and managed to convey the crucial roll of film safely back to England. When Scott concludes his story, Lt. Willard realizes that Wyatt does care for his men. A wire the next day informs him that his brother is still alive and has been rescued.

Cast

As credited, with screen roles identified: *

as Colonel Ed (E.D.) Wyatt *

as Jo McWethy *

as Lieutenant Hobson "Hobbie" Lee (credited as "Touch Conners") * Michael Fox as Major Scott * William Bryant as Lieutenant John "Johnny" Willand (listed as Will R. Klein) * Freeman Morse as Danny Nelson * Dick Paxton as Captain Frank Willard *

Selmer Jackson Selmer Adolf Jackson (May 7, 1888 – March 30, 1971) was an American stage film and television actor. He appeared in nearly 400 films between 1921 and 1963. His name was sometimes spelled Selmar Jackson. Jackson was born in Lake Mills, Iowa an ...

as General Carson * Dick Lerner as "Jorgy" * Morris Ankrum as General W.R. Combs

Production

''Sky Commando'' was a typical Fred F. Sears actioner, combining an array of stock footage with live action. As one of the many features that Sears helmed in a very short period, the film was a "B" feature, although it did star Duryea, Gifford and future TV star Mike Connors. With principal photography done over an eight-day span, March 16–23, 1953, most of the production work that remained involved merging the stock combat footage of USAF and USAAF action. The preponderance of stock footage was not always carefully integrated;

Consolidated B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

, North American B-25 Mitchell, North American F-86 Sabre 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 ...

footage was, at times, jarringly spliced together, with a view of a bomber changing dramatically to a different aircraft. Most of the action in the cockpit between Conners and Duryea was filmed in a B-25 bomber cockpit. In an interview with

Tom Weaver Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

, Mike Connors recalled they were told that the last two days shooting of their six day filming schedule was technically unsuitable. Connors and Duryea assumed they would make money with two more days shooting, but producer Sam Katzman informed the pair that he made their re shooting the film unnecessary by using more aircraft stock footage.

Reception

Like most of Fred F. Sears' work, with its poor production values and stagey plot, ''Sky Commando'' was not well received. Reviewer Hal Erickson, in a latter day critique, observed that the film was notable for presenting Duryea in a sympathetic role, and for the presence of former headliner Frances Gifford.Erickson, Hal
"Sky Commando (1953)."
''AllMovie'', 2013. Retrieved: May 14, 2013.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Carlson, Mark. ''Flying on Film: A Century of Aviation in the Movies, 1912–2012''. Duncan, Oklahoma: BearManor Media, 2012. . * Orriss, Bruce. ''When Hollywood Ruled the Skies: The Aviation Film Classics of World War II''. Hawthorne, California: Aero Associates Inc., 1984. . * Wheeler, Winston Dixon. ''Lost in the Fifties: Recovering Phantom Hollywood.'' Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press, 2005.

External links

* * * {{Sam Katzman 1953 films American war films American aviation films Films about shot-down aviators American World War II films 1950s English-language films Columbia Pictures films Cold War films Korean War aviation films Films directed by Fred F. Sears Films about the United States Air Force 1953 war films American black-and-white films 1950s American films