Desperate Journey

**Pure war propaganda.** This 1942 film is one of many films that were made during World War II, and that are themed around the conflict itself. During the war, American actors engaged in the military effort in films that sought to boost morale and incite combat, with the heroism of the Americans and British being almost the key to defeating the Axis, and the attractive Resistance girls to be their perfect romantic matches. This film takes the heroes, a British and American flight crew, on a suicide mission into German territory: to destroy a railway junction heavily defended by guns and anti-aircraft artillery. Obviously, they are shot down and, from then on, begins an unstoppable game of cat and mouse with the German soldiers in which, virtually by miracle, they cross enemy territory, even passing through Berlin! And all this without any kind of previously organized plan, London directive or any resistance connection that could help them. Just luck and a great pair of... guts! The film is really far from being good, or even competent. It can only be understood by virtue of the times then lived. However, it manages to entertain us reasonably if we turn off our brains. It's action and suspense from start to finish, with great actors, with Errol Flynn and a young Ronald Reagan being the great protagonists. They are good actors, and their worth is not in question, but really, there are very few real challenges for them: the film is simply concerned with showing Allied heroism and ridiculing the German military machine as much as possible. In the same way that the production did not bet on a good script, or on good dialogues, there was also no bet on the quality of production values or effects. The cinematography is regular and works fine, but it doesn't enchant us, and the sets and costumes are more or less within what had to be done, even if it's not really brilliant. I liked, however, the cars that were used, and the car chase through the muddy fields of Holland. Hope they didn't spoil too many tulip bulbs.