Unternehmen Tigersprung (1942)

Unternehmen Tigersprung: Directed by David Miller. With John Wayne, John Carroll, Anna Lee, Paul Kelly. Capt. Jim Gordon’s command of the famed American mercenary fighter group in China is complicated by the recruitment of an old friend who is a reckless hotshot.

“I am a real sucker for some of the old Republic films–particularly the wartime films. Yes, I know they are NOT artistic masterpieces and the movies of course take advantage of many cinema clichés BUT they also deliver wonderful, if somewhat low-brow, entertainment.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDespite John Wayne being billed as the lead, he is in fact somewhat of a background figure during much of the movie. Instead, the main focus seems to be on the incredibly glib and cocky John Carrol. Heu0026#39;s a jerk and heu0026#39;s terribly selfish but boy can he fly. And, Wayne, being an old pal of Carrolu0026#39;s knows that down deep Carrol will prove himself in the end.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAlong the way, we are treated to a liberal dose of the nobility of our Chinese comrades in arms as well as the inherent decency of our volunteer pilots. While all basically true, it has all the expected touches of a WWII American propaganda film. For me, thatu0026#39;s not really a bad thing, as this film and others like it succeed in being great entertainment. In fact, because of this, I have seen this film several times. Itu0026#39;s not exactly deep or sophisticated, but sometimes we NEED a film we can just enjoy and not think too deeply about.”