The final pairing of Errol Flynn & helmer Michael Curtiz was this plot-challenged Technicolor spectacular about the Navy Air Force on the cusp of WWII. (The location work in Hawaii was shot just months before Pearl Harbor-12/7.) The story conforms to the standard antagonists-turned-best-pals formula (obstinately repeated between Flynn & a series of guys: co-star Fred MacMurray, Ralph Bellamy, Craig Stevens, Regis Toomey) and, excusing some particularly weak comic relief from Allen Jenkins, it just barely plays out well enough to camouflage what is basically a recruitment/training pic. Even so, the look of the film, makes this a must-see. Color was still used mainly for period pieces & musicals but as seen here, the formation flying, the seemingly off-hand use of planes on so many background shots, and Robert Haas’s exceptional art design on the labs and all the interiors are all knock-outs.
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