[flyXwire]

For those who enjoy watching classic Hollywood Aviation genre films with military airplanes in them, this is your movie night at the Turner Classic Movie channel available on dish or cable.

7/24/07,Tuesday line-up schedule

6:00 AM Winning Your Wings (1942)
James Stewart hosts this classic Air Force recruiting film. BW-18 mins, TV-G

6:30 AM Bombardier (1943)
Military officers compete for the same woman while training pilots for war. Cast: Pat O'Brien, Randolph Scott, Anne Shirley. Dir: Richard Wallace. BW-99 mins, TV-G

8:30 AM Devil Dogs Of The Air (1935)
Two Marine pilots vie for romance and glory. Cast: James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Margaret Lindsay. Dir: Lloyd Bacon. BW-85 mins, TV-PG

10:00 AM Fighter Squadron (1948)
A dedicated flyer pushes himself and those around him during a perilous World War II campaign. Cast: Edmond O'Brien, Robert Stack, Rock Hudson. Dir: Raoul Walsh. C-95 mins, TV-PG, CC

12:00 PM Dive Bomber (1941)
A crusading scientist fights to prevent bomber pilots from blacking out. Cast: Errol Flynn, Fred MacMurray, Alexis Smith. Dir: Michael Curtiz. C-132 mins, TV-G, CC

2:15 PM Dawn Patrol, The (1938)
A flight commander in France almost cracks under the pressure of sending men to their deaths. Cast: Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, David Niven. Dir: Edmund Goulding. BW-103 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS

4:00 PM Command Decision (1948)
A senior officer faces the horror of sending his men on suicide missions over Germany during the last days of World War II. Cast: Clark Gable, Van Johnson, Walter Pidgeon. Dir: Sam Wood. BW-112 mins, TV-PG, CC

6:00 PM Flying Leathernecks (1951)
A World War II Marine officer drives his men mercilessly during the battle for Guadalcanal. Cast: John Wayne, Robert Ryan, Jay C. Flippen. Dir: Nicholas Ray. C-102 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS

8:00 PM Strategic Air Command (1955)
A baseball star takes to the air to help plan the U.S.' aerial defense. Cast: James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Lovejoy. Dir: Anthony Mann. C-114 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format

10:00 PM Flying Tigers (1942)
American flyers help the Chinese fight off Japanese invaders. Cast: John Wayne, John Carroll, Anna Lee. Dir: David Miller. BW-101 mins, TV-PG, CC

12:00 AM Air Force (1943)
A bomber crew sees World War II action over the Pacific. Cast: John Garfield, Gig Young, Arthur Kennedy. Dir: Howard Hawks. BW-125 mins, TV-G, CC

2:30 AM Captains Of The Clouds (1942)
A mail flyer joins the Canadian air force for fun but has to prove his worth when he goes to war. Cast: James Cagney, Dennis Morgan, Brenda Marshall. Dir: Michael Curtiz. C-113 mins, TV-G, CC

4:30 AM Wings Of The Navy (1939)
Pilot brothers vie for the same woman. Cast: George Brent, Olivia de Havilland, John Payne. Dir: Lloyd Bacon. BW-90 mins, TV-G

[Black 6]

I watched a couple of the movies listed which I had never seen before.

1. Devil Dogs of the Air

I thought this movie was ok (I saw about 3/4 of it). I did enjoy the scenes with the old military biplane trainers and of San Diego in 1935.

2. Air Force

I really enjoyed this for the great scenes of B-17C/D bombers in flight and on the ground and scenes of Chrissey Field near San Francisco. I don't think you see them very often in films so it was a treat. The movie is a none-too-subtle propaganda tool (1943 after all) that I think exaggerates "Fifth Column" incidents at Pearl Harbor a bit. It also uses some cheesey (by our current standards) special effects. But overall, it's a pretty good movie to fill an hour and a half of your time.

[1250ships]

I've always liked Air Force even though it isn't very realistic. I Tivoed it this time and will watch it if I have time.

Right now watching Dive Bomber. Gorgeous technocolor shots of pre-war carriers operating Vindicators, Devastators, Buffalos, and bi-plane fighters and bombers.

[flyXwire]

10:00 AM Fighter Squadron (1948)
A dedicated flyer pushes himself and those around him during a perilous World War II campaign. Cast: Edmond O'Brien, Robert Stack, Rock Hudson. Dir: Raoul Walsh. C-95 mins, TV-PG, CC

This movie is my favorite to watch everytime it comes on. I've voted (begged) at TCM's website to release this on DVD already together with the "Strategic Air Command" and "Men of the Fighting Lady".
Hopefully it will happen soon....

[Epapazian]

Originally Posted by Black 6

I watched a couple of the movies listed which I had never seen before.

1. Devil Dogs of the Air

I thought this movie was ok (I saw about 3/4 of it). I did enjoy the scenes with the old military biplane trainers and of San Diego in 1935.

2. Air Force

I really enjoyed this for the great scenes of B-17C/D bombers in flight and on the ground and scenes of Chrissey Field near San Francisco. I don't think you see them very often in films so it was a treat. The movie is a none-too-subtle propaganda tool (1943 after all) that I think exaggerates "Fifth Column" incidents at Pearl Harbor a bit. It also uses some cheesey (by our current standards) special effects. But overall, it's a pretty good movie to fill an hour and a half of your time.

I make it a point to watch most of these films whenever they appear, even though I have seen them many times before. The priceless footage of those old warbirds is one reason, but the spirit that some capture of particular eras in WW II is also appealing. "Air Force" does an excellent job of depicting our "down but not out" state of mind in the period immediately following the Pearl Harbor disaster. Unfortunately the early scenes suggesting that the Japanese residents of Hawaii were traitors and the closing nonsense where hordes of avenging Army Air Force planes obliterate the whole Japanese navy---in December 1941?----mar an otherwise fine movie.

[flyXwire]

7/31/07,Tuesday line-up schedule


6:00 AM Murder In The Air (1940)
A secret service agent fights to keep enemy spies away from top secret government plans. Cast: Ronald Reagan, John Litel, James Stephenson. Dir: Lewis Seiler. BW-55 mins, TV-PG

7:00 AM Sky Murder (1940)
Detective Nick Carter tries to prove a beautiful immigrant innocent of murder. Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Donald Meek, Kaaren Verne. Dir: George B. Seitz. BW-72 mins, TV-PG

8:30 AM Lost Squadron, The (1932)
Veteran flyers from World War I find work as movie stuntmen. Cast: Richard Dix, Mary Astor, Erich von Stroheim. Dir: George Archainbaud. BW-79 mins, TV-G

10:00 AM Hollywood Cowboy (1937)
A vacationing Western star signs on to help a female rancher fight off bandits. Cast: George O'Brien, Cecilia Parker, Maude Eburne. Dir: Ewing Scott. BW-63 mins, TV-G

11:15 AM Flying Wild (1941)
When he gets a job at an aviation plant, a street tough stumbles onto an enemy spy ring. Cast: Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Donald Haines. Dir: William West. BW-61 mins, TV-G

12:30 PM High Flyers (1938)
Two men pose as flyers and get mixed up with jewel smugglers. Cast: Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Lupe Velez. Dir: Edward F. Cline. BW-70 mins, TV-G

2:00 PM Flying Deuces, The (1939)
Two bumblers join the Foreign Legion to forget a beautiful woman. Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Jean Parker. Dir: A. Edward Sutherland. BW-65 mins, TV-G

3:15 PM Sky's The Limit, The (1943)
A pilot on leave falls for a pretty news photographer. Cast: Fred Astaire, Joan Leslie, Robert Benchley. Dir: Edward H. Griffith. BW-89 mins, TV-G, CC

4:45 PM It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
A group of greedy clowns tears up the countryside in search of buried treasure. Cast: Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar. Dir: Stanley Kramer. C-182 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format

8:00 PM Guy Named Joe, A (1943)
A downed World War II pilot becomes the guardian angel for his successor in love and war. Cast: Spencer Tracy, Irene Dunne, Van Johnson. Dir: Victor Fleming. BW-120 mins, TV-G, CC, DVS

10:15 PM Test Pilot (1938)
An irresponsible test pilot's wife and best friend try to get him to grow up. Cast: Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy. Dir: Victor Fleming. BW-119 mins, TV-G, CC

12:30 AM Top of the World (1955)
When he's transferred to Alaska, a brash pilot tries to stop his ex-wife from remarrying. Cast: Dale Robertson, Evelyn Keyes, Frank Lovejoy. Dir: Lewis R. Foster. BW-91 mins, TV-G, CC

2:15 AM Bride Came C.O.D., The (1941)
A pilot and a temperamental heiress are stranded in the desert together. Cast: James Cagney, Bette Davis, Harry Davenport. Dir: William Keighley. BW-92 mins, TV-G, CC

4:00 AM Flying Down To Rio (1933)
A dance-band leader finds love and success in Brazil. Cast: Dolores Del Rio, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers. Dir: Thornton Freeland. BW-90 mins, TV-G, CC

5:30 AM Festival of Shorts #49 (2006)
Features two vintage Warner Vitaphone shorts: Silver Jubilee (1930) and Harry Warren: America's Foremost Composer (1933). BW-23 mins, , CC