A Wing and a Prayer

Plot

Former president Ronald Reagan may have genuinely believed that he was referring to a real-life act of selfless wartime bravery whenever repeating his "We'll bring this one down together" anecdote. In fact, he was merely quoting a scene from the above-average World War 2 drama A Wing and a Prayer. The setting is an American aircraft carrier, overseen by tough, unserving flight officer Don Ameche. When casualties begin piling up, the pilots blame Ameche, accusing him of being an indiscriminate butcher. Only when the tide of battle turns in favor of the Allies do the pilots realize that Ameche has been right all along. Director Henry Hathaway spent several weeks aboard an actual aircraft carrier, filming genuine combat scenes. Many of these authentic sequences appear as background footage in A Wing and a Prayer; sometimes the process work is convincing, sometimes it isn't, but please remember that this film was made long, long before the advent of computer technology. Dana Andrews, William Eythe, Richard Jaeckel, Harry Morgan (billed as 'Henry Morgan' here), Richard Crane, Glenn Langan, Reed Hadley and Bob Bailey are among the ready, willing and able Fox contractees appearing in A Wing and a Prayer. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Review

A Wing and a Prayer is a good, solid World War II drama that benefits from its rather off-beat focus on the men who had to play "decoys" in the strategy leading up to the Battle of Midway. Soon after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. realized that Japan would likely try to capture Hawaii, and that to do so they would need to first gain hold of Midway Island. The U.S. command launched an elaborate plan to lull the Japanese military into thinking that U.S. forces were spread out across the globe, leading Midway unprotected; in fact, the U.S. forces were in position at Midway, and thus assembled were able to surprise the Japanese forces and keep the island out of Axis hands. Wing is all about an aircraft carrier that has to be one of the decoys, making the enemy think that many, many ships and planes were far away from Midway; part of this called upon the pilots to act like cowards, running away from the enemy rather than engaging them. Wing examines this situation and the manner in which is affects the men involved. While the characters are your typical string of "types" that you find in many films of this sort, they're played very well by the cast. As their leader, Don Ameche is quite good, demonstrating a flair for drama that his many lightweight roles never exploited. Director Henry Hathaway filmed a great deal of actual battle footage which is incorporated into the film; it's not always as smooth as modern day audiences might wish, but it's effective nonetheless. And Hathaway keeps the film moving at a brisk clip, punching the highlights with considerable power. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi

Cast

• Don Ameche - Flight Cmdr. Bingo Harper
• Dana Andrews - Sqdn. Cmdr. Edward Moulton
• William Eythe - Hallam 'Oscar' Scott
• Charles Bickford - Capt. Waddell
• Cedric Hardwicke - Admiral

Kevin O'Shea - Cookie Cunningham; Richard Jaeckel - Beezy Bessemer; Henry Morgan - Malcolm Brainard; Richard Crane - Ensign Gus Chisholm; Glenn Langan - Executive Officer; Reed Hadley - Cmdr. O'Donnell; Eddie Acuff; Murray Alper - Benny O'Neill; Stanley Andrews - Marine General; Irving Bacon - Sailor; Robert Bailey - Ens. Paducah Holloway; George Chandler; Jimmie Dodd; Joe Haworth - Murphy; Selmar Jackson; John Kellogg - Assistant Air Officer; Frank Marlowe; George Mathews - Dooley; Renny McEvoy - Ensign Cliff Hale; Matt McHugh; Frank McLure - Admiral; Jack Mower; B.S. Pully - Flat Top; Terrance Ray; Raymond Roe - Gunner; Robin Short; Charles Smith - Alfalfa; Ray Teal - Exec. Officer; Charles Trowbridge - Medical Officer; Edward Van Sloan; Jay Ward - Orderly; Pierre Watkin; Crane Whitley; Dave Willock - Ens. Hans Jacobson; Frederic Worlock; Blake Edwards; John Kelly - Lew; John Miles - Ens. "Lovebug" Markham; William Manning; Chet Brandenburg; Mike Kilian - Pilot; Billy Lechner - Anti-Aircraft Gunner; Carl Knowles - Marine Orderly; Mel Schubert; Jerry Shane - Foley; Charles Lang - Ens. Chuck White; Larry Thompson - Sam Cooper

Credit

Lewis H. Creber - Art Director, Lyle Wheeler - Art Director, Henry Hathaway - Director, J. Watson Webb, Jr. - Editor, Hugo W. Friedhofer - Composer (Music Score), Emil Newman - Musical Direction/Supervision, Guy Pearce - Makeup, Glen MacWilliams - Cinematographer, William A. Bacher - Producer, Walter Morosco - Producer, Thomas K. Little - Set Designer, Fred Sersen - Special Effects, Alfred Bruzlin - Sound/Sound Designer, Roger Heman - Sound/Sound Designer, Jerry Cady - Screenwriter

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