Flight for Freedom (1943)

Simply Perfect

Sick Product of a Sick System

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

This film is a rather creaky melodrama inspired by the Amelia Earhart story. Rosalind Russell plays Tonie Carter who has to put up with prejudice as she learns to fly but pretty soon is setting flight records. Carter falls in love with ace pilot Randy Britton (Fred MacMurray) who is one of the people who is sexist to her at the beginning but they then drift apart. However she then plans to race around the world solo after she promises to marry her flight instructor Paul Turner (Herbert Marshall.)As the film was made during the second world war, there are elements of propaganda weaved into the plot as Carter is agrees to undertake a secret mission on behalf of the navy where she would get lost in her flight and the rescue mission would allow reconnaissance pictures to betaken under the noses of the Japanese. This mission reunited her with Britton who declares to Carter what she means to him.The film really did not start off well, rather plodding I thought but it does get better in the final segments and like the rather campy but sinister turn by the Japanese hotel manager, who seemed to have channelled the great Peter Lorre.Poor Paul Turner he was so happy to have snagged Carter has his fiancé but it was never going to happen.

This is a fun movie of thirties aviation. The mid air between Randy and Tonie is laughable and fake. That aside I enjoy the tone and the simple enjoyment of the movie for what it was, a WWII war movie. Randy (Fred Mac Murry) and Tonie fall for each other with the background of thirties type air racing and breaking records as their goals. Then when a special assignment comes up to look for a "missing pilot" over the Japanese mandated islands, they both volunteer. Overall this is one of my favorite movies for this type. The Japanese hotel manager - as a Jap spy- is so typical as to be laughable. But this movie is not about realism or political correctness.

Movies like these were typical of the time. You must put this movie in that context. Too many critics compare the old movies and their politics with today's views. Flight for Freedom like so many films in the 1940's had a purpose; to win the hearts and minds of the average American who may have had doubts about why we were fighting. Amelia Earhart was an icon of the American spirit and therefore, by demonizing the Japanese military who may or may not have killed her; the US government could whip up a frenzy of resolve to fight the war on to the finish. Ironically, espionage is a capital offense in most countries and it was typical to be awarded a long sentence or a possible death penalty. But it makes good drama, since the thought of killing a female for such a crime is yet another possible reason for FDR to get the US into the war.

This film is influenced by the patriotism during the great struggle of The Second World War. It is accurate in depicting the spirit of the great Emelia Earhart. A film made today might choose to focus on other aspects but that is more an indication of the difference in attitudes from the 40s to now. This is an interesting film for youngsters and adults.