Main Cast: Errol Flynn, Ronald Reagan, Arthur Kennedy, Raymond Massey, Sig Rumann, Pat O'Moore
Release Year: 1942
Country: US
Run Time: 108 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
In this, one of many World War II propaganda films of the early 1940s, Errol Flynn is one of five RAF pilots to survive a crash-landing in occupied Poland. They are relentlessly pursued by Nazi officer Raymond Massey, who despite his erudition and poise comes across as one of the densest men on earth--not that his Nazi underlings are any brighter. After repeatedly humiliating Massey and laying waste to most of the Third Reich installations in Poland, Flynn and cohort Ronald Reagan steal a German bomber and head back to England. "Now for Australia and a crack at those Japs!" declares Flynn at the end, admirably maintaining a straight face. Desperate Journey gained some negative fame in the 1980s because of its brief scenes in which Ronald Reagan dons a Nazi uniform. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Ronald Sinclair - Flight Sgt. Lloyd Hollis; Louis Arco - Feldwebel Gertz; Charles Irwin - Capt. Coswick; Robert O. Davis - Kruse; Walter Brooke - Flight Sgt. Warwick; Harry Lewis - Evans; Don Phillips - Kenton; Frank Alten - Lieutenant; Felix Basch - Dr. Herman Brahms; Albert Basserman - Dr. Mather; Elsa Basserman - Frau Raeder; Barry Bernard - Squadron Commander; Sven Hugo Borg - Mechanic; Nancy Coleman - Kaethe Brahms; Helmut Dantine - German Copilot; Carl Ekberg - Telephone Repairman; Richard Fraser - Squadron Leader Clark; Arno Frey - Pvt. Trecha; Gene Garrick - Polish Boy; Ilka Gruning - Frau Brahms; Alan Hale - Flight Sgt. Kirk Edwards; Ludwig Hardt - Pharmacist; William Hopper - Aircraftsman; Kurt Katch - Hesse; Bruce Lister - English Officer; Jack Lomas - Magnus; Lester Matthews - Wing Commander; Otto Reichow - Pvt. Koenig; Henry Rowland - Motorcycle Scout; Ferdinand Schumann-Heink - Sentry; Hans Schumm; Lester Sharpe - Driver; Bob Stephenson - Gestapo Agent; Roland Varno - Unteroffizier; Henry Victor - Heinrich Schwartzmuller; Douglas Walton - British Officer; Harold Daniels - German Soldier; Walter Bonn - Sentry; Rolf Lindau - Sergeant; Sigfrid Tor - Pvt. Rasek
Credit
Carl Jules Weyl - Art Director, Milo Anderson - Costume Designer, Raoul Walsh - Director, Rudi Fehr - Editor, Max Steiner - Composer (Music Score), Leo F. Forbstein - Musical Direction/Supervision, Hugo W. Friedhofer - Musical Direction/Supervision, Perc Westmore - Makeup, Bert Glennon - Cinematographer, Jack Saper - Producer, Hal B. Wallis - Producer, Edwin DuPar - Special Effects, C.A. Riggs - Sound/Sound Designer, Nathan Levinson - Sound Special Effects, Arthur Horman - Screenwriter
The surviving crew members of a Royal Air Forcebomber shot down near the former Polish border traverse the breadth of Nazi Germany and the occupied Netherlands to get back to England. Led by Flight Lt. Terrence Forbes, an Australian (Flynn), and Flying Officer Johnny Hammond, an American (Reagan), pursued by a Nazi major (Massey) and aided by an anti-Nazi nurse (Coleman), the men repeatedly evade capture, eventually flying home in a recaptured British airplane that the Germans had planned to use in a sneak attack on London.
