Desperate Journey

source: Desperate Journey

Trailer—Desperate Journey

Desperate Journey

. . . for a story in which six members of the featured nine-man crew get killed, including the youngest guy (whom the others had promised to safeguard for sure). It's as if Private Ryan WASN'T saved. Though the recent Brad Pitt vehicle FURY had an even higher attrition rate, its scriptwriters knew enough to spare the new guy. But most of DESPERATE JOURNEY has the feel of an extended episode of the 1960s TV Sit-Com, HOGAN'S HEROES (with Col. Klink and Sgt. Schultze getting gunned down at the end). Though there's a chick along for the ride during a minute or two of the JOURNEY, she's mere window dressing. This Warner Bros. flick recycles the ROARING TWENTIES' warehouse for confiscated Bootlegger booty (where Humphrey Bogart's character did in his old WWI sergeant) as a German bomb factory. After all, these guys made BULLETS OR BALLOTS, so why not BOOZE OR BOMBS?

It's really too bad the Germans weren't as bumbling and incompetent as they appear in films like this. The war would have lasted maybe 2 months. The presence of Ronald Reagan as an ex-pat American fighting the Battle of Beverly Hills instead of getting shot at by real Germans (Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, etc.) makes an already irritating film practically intolerable. The Max Steiner bloatware music is the usual comical mishmash of national tunes. Steiner's approach was always to slug the listener with a sock full of manure. Here, he uses a really big sock. There were many good films about the war made in the early years of it. This is definitely NOT one of them. Avoid.

I just love this picture. It was the first movie I ever saw and I keep coming back to it because it's pure escapism. Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan were never better than in this World War II saga of Royal Air Forcers downed behind enemy lines. They escape Nazi capture and take the audience on a rousing adventure as they make a high spirited bid to reach home. Never a dull moment, this is an obvious precursor to the Indiana Jones films. Raymond Massey is pure evil as the Nazi commandant who relentlessly pursues the fliers. Arthur Kennedy and Alan Hale provide able support and welcome humor as RAF comrades sharing in the robust flight across Germany. Not to be missed!

This is probably the silliest WW2 film made during the war. But if you dismiss that fact, you find yourself enjoying a well-made piece of Hollywood escapism. Everyone in the cast seems to enjoy themselves. Walsh's direction is good and Max Steiner provides a really exciting and stirring score. So who's quibbling?

Okay, this script was obviously NOT written by great intellects and will never be known as one of Errol Flynn's best films. This much is very obvious very soon into the movie. Yet despite a pretty stupid script, stupid dialog and a jingoism that is practically unmatched by any other film, it IS worth seeing because of the almost non-stop action and suspense--almost like a movie serial condensed into full-length movie form. That's because the four escaped prisoners (Flynn, Ronald Reagan, Alan Hale and Arthur Kennedy) make a monkey out of the entire German war machine and outwit millions of Nazis and they do it in a very fun and light-hearted way. Sure, it isn't deep and it's all a lot of twaddle, but you can't help but suspend disbelief and just enjoy the hokeyness of the whole thing. Plus, it's a good chance to see Reagan actually play in a watchable film! My advice is see it and don't think. Watch it and enjoy it on a totally brainless level or you're bound to be disappointed.

Propaganda? Yes. Some preposterous scenes? Yes. Entertaining? Very. Think "Hogan's Heros", with a Keystone Kops chase scene. It is easy to imagine folks in theaters in 1942 cheering loudly as the GIs outwit the thick headed Germans in one escapade after another. Just when it appears they have escaped capture, they are surrounded by the enemy again, with no apparent chance to escape this time. It is easy to find fault with many films, and this one is no exception. However, imperfect films can still be very entertaining if we allow them to be! Not currently out on VHS or DVD - but look for it on Turner Classics.

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.