Desperate Journey

Flynn's last line in the movie sums up the tenor of the entire piece, "Now for Australia and a crack at those Japs." A bomber crew on a heroic mission is shot down and make their way from Poland, through Germany and Holland, to England, losing a few of their members enroute, but nothing compared to the slaughter and destruction the wisecracking warriors wreak on the Germans.

Let's see. Dispensing with the crew members who die early on, there is a British flight sergeant whose role is to be the plucky but inexperienced youngster who is wounded and holds the others back, although he urges them to leave him behind and save themselves. Then there is Alan Hale as the comic old cook, more or less transposed from the USS Copperfin in "Destination Tokyo." Then there is Arthur Kennedy as the serious Canadian accountant who objects to the playful way the others make war on the Nazis. He mistakenly thinks war is a serious business, but he comes around in the end. There is Errol Flynn, the only officer, and an Australian, who organizes one adventure after another and speaks German. (Somebody has to speak German.) Ronald Reagan is the American from Jersey City. He is Flynn's sidekick.

The Germans aren't so well differentiated but they're just as stereotyped. Raymond Massy is the monocled Herr Major who pursues them for personal reasons across half of Europe. Sig Rumann provides the best comic interlude. As a railroad policeman he discovers our gang making themselves at home in Gorings private car. He sarcastically tells them in German that he's happy to see that they've made themselves at home in the Reichsmarshall's quarters and asks them if there is anything he can do for them -- "Do you think the cigarettes are good enough for you?" Alan Hale completely mistakes Rumann's sarcasm and comes back with a jolly, "Oh, ja, ja," until Rumann spits on Hale's outstretched hand and throws them all off the train.

Boy, this movie is packed with action. Badabing, badaboom! Trains, planes, and automobiles -- one chase after another. Flynn setting his cap firmly on his head before diving through a window. Most of the movie was shot on Warner's lot, but there is some nice location shooting too at what I take to be the flats around South San Francisco Bay. Prop up a few fake windmills on the horizon and you have Holland. (You can see the same flats substituting for the Japanese coast in "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," or nearby ones on the Sacramento River posing as a ships' graveyard in "Blood Alley.")

The story isn't really worth going into. It isn't quite as focused as some other war movies in that there is no single mission to which the group must devote themselves. Instead they improvise a lot. But you can hardly notice it because the pace is so fast. Good old Raoul Walsh. Flynn got along a lot better with Walsh than he did with Michael Curtiz. Both were demanding directors but Walsh was more nearly human, stipulating only that Flynn's drinking wouldn't begin until five in the afternoon.

And Max Steiner, the composer, should get a medal. How can he possibly have ground out so many scores for so many different movies in so short a time? Did he ever sleep? He doesn't give this one a memorable theme as he did with "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," but still there's hardly a moment that the orchestra is not banging away behind the action. One thing you do when you're pressed for time is to incorporate traditional tunes into the score, substituting them for original music. I was able to catch snatches of "My Country 'Tis of Thee" (or, I guess, "God Save the King," in this context), "Du, Du, Liegst mir Im Herzen," "Deutschland Uber Alles" (or the hymn it comes from), "British Grenadiers," "Rule Brittania," and "Ich Hatt Einen Kameraden."

No comments on acting are required. If you're in the mood for being diverted, "Desperate Journey" ought to get the job done. It's unpretentious propagandistic fun.

Errol Flynn, Alan Hale, Ronald Reagan, Arthur Kennedy, and Ronald Sinclair are on a "Desperate Journey" in this 1942 wartime film directed by Raoul Walsh. The film also stars Raymond Massey as a German commandant and Nancy Coleman as a member of the underground.

Flynn and his pals crash land in Germany and attempt to fulfill their mission plus destroy other enemy sites and enemies as they make their way to safety.

For guys trapped in an enemy country, arrested at one point, and in constant danger, they're a pretty lighthearted bunch. They're also amazing at getting out of tight spots.

While it's not particularly realistic, "Desperate Journey" is very entertaining with non-stop action all the way, a charming performance by that prince of charm, Errol Flynn, and good support. People are terrible about Ronald Reagan's acting - he didn't have much range, but he was pleasant enough and very good for a role in this kind of film.

One interesting thing is that I didn't understand any of the German, which I usually do, so I wondered if it was a dialect. As usual, the actors used the formal instead of the familiar tense, which I doubt officers did when speaking to soldiers.

In one part of the movie, a German is asked if he speaks English, and he answers, "I speak as if I was in London born," which is exactly the way the German language is spoken, with the verb at the end. So someone knew what they were doing.

Recommended.

"Desperate Journey" comes down to Errol Flynn vs. the Nazis and I'll give you two guesses who wins this one! This film isn't about realism, just to entertain and boy, it certainly does! The pace never lets up as Errol and a small group of Allied soldiers find their way behind enemy lines in Germany. Their plane has crashed and they need to pool their resources in order to fly back to Headquarters in England. There is action aplenty and a very good supporting cast. An Errol Flynn movie wouldn't be complete without regular co- star Alan Hale. Raymond Massey is very good as a Nazi officer who is hot on the Allies trail. Unlike a lot of Flynn's films, "Desperate Journey" doesn't allow much room in the plot for a female leading lady. Nancy Coleman is cast in that role here but her screen time is restricted. The climax is an excellent one and there's also a bit of suspense. 1942 was the last year in which Errol Flynn was at his most popular at the box office. Not long after, his star gradually faded and his career didn't re-gain its former glory.

When the mission begins and the crew is ready to take off, the captain says, "Start port outboard engine" (this would be the left side of the plane farthest away from the fuselage). Yet the camera flips to the inboard starboard side and the engine starts followed by the other engines.

The movie is a bit of a feel-good movie but it's also fun. Alan Hale Sr. (father of the "Skipper" on TV series "Gilligan's Island") often plays comic relief (e.g. with Mr. Flynn in "Robin Hood") and he does it well. Lots of quick one-liners you will enjoy.

There's a lot of German language without subtitles but the even though I don't know German it doesn't hurt the plot. In fact, the meaning is fairly obvious even if you don't know German and gives a better feel to the idea of being in a foreign country during war.

With Errol Flynn, Nancy Coleman, Ronald Reagan, Alan Hale and Arthur Kennedy in a picture, how bad can it be? Not at all. "Desperate Journey" is an exciting fast paced film about American and British soldiers inside Nazi Germany after their bombing plane crashes.

There is plenty of excitement as they try to evade their captors, the head being a very German-like Raymond Massey in another of his stellar performances. Alan Hale and Sig Ruman, the latter in one scene, bring comic relief.

Of course, there is the cliché speech of Nancy Coleman, a German helping the allies, who stays despite the fact that the Nazis know her whereabouts. Her speech about patriotism is familiar but keenly on target.

We have exciting chase scenes, and wonderful sabotage by our heroes inflicted upon Massey and his group of vultures.

A wonderful war-time journey that should be viewed by all.