Wing and a Prayer (1944)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Henry Hathaway

Writers:

Jerome Cady (story)
Jerome Cady (screenplay)

Release Date:

24 July 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War

Plot:

An aircraft carrier is sent on a decoy mission around the Pacific, with orders to avoid combat, thus...

Plot Keywords:

Navy | US Navy | WWII | Aircraft Carrier | Decoy

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

US TV Schedule:

Thur. Oct. 23

6:00 AM

AMC

Cast

Don Ameche	...	Flight Cmdr. Bingo Harper
Dana Andrews	...	Lt. Cmdr. Edward Moulton
William Eythe	...	Ensign Hallam 'Oscar' Scott
Charles Bickford	...	Capt. Waddell
Cedric Hardwicke	...	Admiral (as Sir Cedric Hardwicke)
Kevin O'Shea	...	Ens. Charles 'Cookie' Cunningham
Richard Jaeckel	...	Beezy Bessemer
Harry Morgan	...	Ensign Malcolm Brainard (as Henry Morgan)
Richard Crane	...	Ensign Gus Chisholm
Glenn Langan	...	Executive Officer
Renny McEvoy	...	Ens. Cliff Hale
Robert Bailey	...	Ens. Paducah Holloway
Reed Hadley	...	Cmdr. O'Donnell
George Mathews	...	Dooley
B.S. Pully	...	Flat Top

Also Known As:

Wing and a Prayer: The Story of Carrier X (USA) (long title)

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved | Netherlands:12 | Finland:S | Spain:13 | Sweden:15

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

When Gus Chisholm is strafed in the water, the various Japanese aircraft shown are American F4F Grumman "Wildcats" and American Douglas SBD "Dauntless" Divebombers

Goofs:

Factual errors: Curtiss SB2C Helldivers are shown in use alongside the Grumman TBF Avengers just prior to and during the Midway portions of the film. The Helldiver was not employed at Midway or prior to it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Boston Legal: A Whiff and a Prayer (#2.4)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

Chattanooga Choo Choo

Ameche

The movie itself is entertaining and rather predictable at times. Kind of like the movie mill war stories of that era. The roll played by Don Ameche was not a Don Ameche roll. Ameche is better known for his humor, IE: The Bickersons and Cocoon. The roll of a sad, by the book Navy officer must have been a stretch for him, but he did it in perfection. He became a dark shadow in scenes where he just walks through and always alone. The lonely man, hardly cracking a smile. Everyone hating him, tough to the point, lonely, misunderstood and doing the job he was appointed to do. It makes you wonder how many men had to be this way during any war.

Ameche should have won an Acadamy Award for his role in this movie.