Post by phantom12321 on Mar 18, 2006 23:58:46 GMT -5
The other day I watched a movie called Air Force on AMC or TCM or something. This movie was made in 1944 and while it follows the story of a flight of B-17's on their way to Pearl Harbor on the night of December 6th all the way through the attack, the story is not what made it stand out in my mind. The fact that it was made during the war made the movie drip with pro-war, propagandaish sub plot events. I'm not condemning or condoning it, but it reminded me of those old etiquette movies they showed in high schools in the fifties. The ones covering ethics and behaivor. For example one character had been in the army/airforce (same thing during WWII) and was glad about the fact he was getting out. They bashed him and made him look like a terrible slug through the entire movie who eventually redeems himself by surviving the story and renewing his enlistment with the army for a longer service. Also the degrading of the Japenese in the movie was present but not overwhelming. The visual effects were impressive for it's time. It actually won the oscar that year for it's visual effects. Most of them focused around the bomber plane taking off or landing. The movie conflicts so violently with movies like SPR not only because of gore or all but also because of it's slanted Ra Ra attitude about the war. I'm not saying this is wrong. Just the fact that no one allows acceptance of being scared or war being horrible for that matter. I think it is an interesting socialogy study. And the story is pretty entertaining if not a little predictable and overly optimistic.