A Yank in the R.A.F. – 1941
This movie had some pretty spectacular special effects. In my book, the seemed to really outshine the special effects in most of the other films that were nominated for the category in 1941. Now, that being said, I must also mention that they were pretty average until about an hour and twenty-five minutes into the hour and thirty-three minute movie, at which time they became absolutely spectacular!
Before the point, most of the story was a romance, and a pretty creepy one, at that. So two military men are interested in the same girl. The British officer, played by John Sutton, was the nice guy who the female lead, played by Betty Grable, should have ended up with. In fact, in the original draft of the film, The Yank, played by Tyrone Power, was supposed to get killed in the final battle sequence. But the real R.A.F. felt that the death of the film’s lead might have been bad for military morale. So Power lived, and in the end, got the girl to boot.
During most of the film there were only a few very short battle sequences. In the first, the bombers were only dropping leaflets. The effect of the German searchlights was pretty interesting. In the second, there is a little action and we see a plane get shot down. The effect of the plane falling from the sky were a little shaky. The burning aircraft looked very much like models on wires.
But that final battle sequence, which was the famous Battle of Dunkirk, the special effects became amazing. The sequence only lasted about four minutes, but had some incredible battle effects that rivaled any great war film, even by today’s standards. One shot in particular gave us a very exciting aerial view of the battlefield. There were explosions, billowing smoke, burning buildings, ships escaping into the water, and trucks speeding along the beach. Just don’t look too closely. Nobody on the beach was moving, and neither were some of the ships in the water. But the shot was over so quickly, and the moving parts of the image was so attention-drawing, I barely had time to notice.
Also, I haven’t seen any other war movie from the 1940s that features such a complex and busy aerial battle as this one. The image contained at least thirty Spitfires and Luftwaffe fighters battling it out in the air, all on the screen at the same time! There were over a thousand extras on the ground! There were explosions, machineguns, men running, swimming, screaming, shouting. And men dying. There were fires, burning planes and boats, aerial crashes, and complete chaos! It was an intense and exciting sequence that, in my book, really made up for the lack of special effects in the rest of the film.
After watching that scene, I understood why this movie had been nominated for Best Special Effects. The battle sequences were brief, but the movie’s climactic battle at Dunkirk was really a pleasant surprise. It woke me up and got my heart pumping. I can’t say enough about how really well done those four minutes of battle were. Very cool, and very worthy of the nomination!