A YANK IN THE R.A.F.

New Zealand Listener, Volume 7, Issue 158, 3 July 1942, Page 16

A YANK IN THE R.A.F.

(20th Century-Fox)

E’VE grown used to finding the Yank in all kinds of queer places, from King Arthur’s Court to the Burma Road, so we are not greatly

surprised to find one in the KAS, especially after Paris Calling. And this time the Yank is Tyrone Power, a tough ferry pilot who joins the R.A.F. because he wants to stick around somewhere neat Betty Grable. Not that we blame him, for most of the other male characters in the film have the same idea. The only trouble is that Tyrone Power’s idea of sticking around is sufficiently elastic to allow for moments of wishful contemplation of torsos other than the famous Grable one.

During the daytime Miss Grable does A.T.S. work which often takes her near the aerodrome where she becomes a target for the honourable intentions of John Sutton (Squadron-Leader Morley). And at night she sings and dances rather well at the Regency House Cabaret. And you will understand that what with all the dancing and singing and the spectacle of Miss Grable being torn between Sutton Chivalry and Power Push, there’s really enough material for the average film without Producer Zanuck bothering to drag in the Bombing of Berlin and the Epic of Dunkirk. However he does, and we’re grateful. The R.A.F. sequences ate indisputably the highlights of the film, even for those who find their Shangri-La in the contemplation of Miss Grable. The behind-the-R.A.F. scenes have the immediacy of a newsreel and the impressiveness and authenticity of the genuine documentary; and the fact that all R.A.F, fightercrews chew gum and that Tyrone Power uses the pre-raid conference table to shoot glances of burning hatred across at Squadron-Leader Sytton doesn’t de tract from the audience’s realisation that this is history as it more or less happens, The action of A Yank in the RAF, covers the months from the war’s beginning to the evacuation of Dunkirk. The first part therefore deals with those comparatively carefree days of the sitzkrieg when air-raid alerts merely provided opportunities for proposals, and when British bombers over Germany contented themselves with dropping leaflets, one at a time, so as not to hurt anybody. But all this is forgotten by the time the film moves to the Dunkirk climax, And it is a climax. We've no way of proving that Dunkirk was actually like this, but if it isn’t good history it’s certainly good cinema. So what with one thing and another it’s rather a shock to get back to London and find that Betty Grable is still alive and kicking at the Regency and still wondering where her heart lies (of course she finds out pretty soon), that other things are going on in much the same way, and that Tyrgne Power hasn’t been chastened by his experiences. But after all that’s Life isn’t it?