A Yank in the RAF (1941)
Director: Henry King
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Producer Darryl Zanuck provided the outline for this tiresome WWII yarn about lending a hand 'over there'. Power plays an experienced civil pilot who, because the pay is good, agrees to ferry a bomber to England. In London, he bumps into old flame Grable, a showgirl doing volunteer ambulance work on the side; and determined to stick around to win her back (she tired of his other women), he cynically joins the RAF. Cockily convinced that the war effort needs his knowhow, he meanwhile leads Grable an unhappy dance by his unreliability and busy skirt-chasing. Redeeming himself through a heroic deed or two, he originally died in action; preview audiences refused to buy this; so now he ends apparently reunited with Grable, but still, in his own wry but apt term, 'a worm'. As perfunctory in its action sequences as in its personal relationships - with a couple of song-and-dance routines for Grable thrown in to crowd-please - it is unpersuasive, to say the least.Author: TM
Cast & crew
Director: Henry King
Producer: Darryl F Zanuck
Cast: Tyrone Power, Betty Grable, John Sutton, Reginald Gardiner, Donald Stuart, Morton Lowry full cast
Genre(s): War
Duration: 98 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Hippies who work for The Man
To celebrate George Clooney comedy 'The Men who Stare at Goats', we look back at six memorable onscreen hippies who fought the system from within
Roland Emmerich's guide to disaster movies
Ahead of the release of '2012', Roland Emmerich offers his ten tips on creating the perfect global catastrophe
Grant Heslov: interview
Grant Heslov, director of 'The Men who Stare at Goats' talks about his old pal George Clooney, his interest in the paranormal, and his fond memories of working on 'Happy Days'
The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'
Masters of contrary comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen have struck gold again with their latest, ‘A Serious Man’
Ten inspirations behind 'Avatar'?
Time Out ponders the influences behind James Cameron's anticipated space-opera on the basis of the trailer
Michael Jackson's This Is It: review
Kenny Ortega's posthumous concert film is a rousing eulogy for one of pop's great enigmas
Michael Haneke: The man behind the menace
From Cannes to Munich to London, Dave Calhoun tours Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner, 'The White Ribbon'
Lone Scherfig talks 'An Education'
Danish director Lone Scherfig was an unlikely choice for a very English affair like 'An Education'. Cath Clarke meets her
How Jane Campion brought John Keats back to life
Time Out gets Romantic with the ‘difficult’ New Zealander about her new film, 'Bright Star'
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations












What do you think?
Post your review now