God Is My Co-Pilot (1945)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

One might logically assume that God is my Co-Pilot (1945) would be about a pilot's faith and, upon learning that it's about a fighter pilot during World War II, would describe how God was a constant companion from which he drew strength and how He helped the man survive dangerous missions through prayer etc. Nope.Instead, God is my Co-Pilot is fairly short on faith while being pretty long on the stereotypes of the genre at the time, like the derogatory language used to refer to the United States' enemy Japan, and its Zero pilots. In fact, the only time one witnesses Colonel Scott praying is near the story's end, when he prays to be part of a last mission to bomb the Japanese to Hell!Other than these disappointments, this Robert Florey directed WW II drama, adapted by Peter Milne and Abem Finkel (who shared an Oscar nomination for adapting Alvin York's WW I diary in the superior faith-based war drama Sergeant York (1941)), features some pretty good aerial combat action while detailing how the China-based Flying Tigers - led by Major General Claire L. Chennault - were so successful: they obtained military intelligence from a network of thousands of Chinese to prepare and stage their defenses in advance of any Japanese attack.Dennis Morgan plays Scott, Raymond Massey plays Chennault. Dane Clark and John Ridgely play two of Scott's fellow Flying Tigers. Andrea King plays Scott's wife Catherine, back in Georgia. Stanley Ridges and Minor Watson also appear, as officers. Richard Loo plays Tokyo Joe, Scott's chief rival in the air, and (uncredited) Philip Ahn plays a character akin to the war's Tokyo Rose, who spouted (sometimes false) propaganda over the radio to upset the Americans stationed in the Pacific.The real Scott was a war hero, notable for downing 13 of Japan's aircraft, and he may have had great faith - though he's portrayed as more self-reliant in this film. There is a faithful American - a China missionary - portrayed in the story, though Big Mike Harrigan (played by Alan Hale) appears to be a fictional character. Harrigan does pray on a couple of occasions, the last at the movie's end.

DENNIS MORGAN is one of those actors under contract to Warner Bros. who seldom got a chance to do anything but lightweight roles and occasionally given a fairly good musical such as the Technicolored MY WILD IRISH ROSE where he played Chauncey Olcott, songwriter.But GOD IS MY CO-PILOT is a rarity in that he gets to fill most of the screen's running time as Col. Robert Lee Scott, one of the first Americans to join the "Flying Tigers" just before World War II. Scott went on to a distinctive wartime record and only recently died at a ripe old age, a hero of his hometown of Macon, Georgia.The film is a typical Warner war film--cast with all of their most dependable stock company players--including RAYMOND MASSEY, ALAN HALE, CRAIG STEVENS, newcomer MARK STEVENS, ANDREA KING, DANE CLARK, JOHN RIDGELY and DONALD COOK. But as a film, it falls strictly into the Saturday afternoon adventure mold for kiddies, only occasionally rising to the occasion of being a good biography of the wartime hero.Despite the rather plum role, Morgan is still a lightweight, leaving the heavier histrionics to Raymond Massey and Alan Hale--but his fans loved him in this, regardless. It's probably the film he's most remembered for during the '40s.And incidentally, there was no political correctness going on in the '40s as far as America and the Japanese were concerned, for those taking affront at the slurs against "the Japs". That's the way they were regarded then. Even having dishes that bore "Made in Japan" on them, was enough for an American to consider throwing them out. That's how it was--deal with it.

This movie helped the P40 to become my favorite warplane of all time. They used E models for the filming of this movie which would have been correct for mid-1942. The enemy planes incorrectly referred to as Zeroes were actually AT6 Texans which were almost always used in other movies as well. The flying scenes were filmed at Luke Air Force base in Arizona. The Flying Tigers fought against the Japanese Air Force which flew Ki-43 'Oscars'. The Imperial Navy pilots flew the Zero and were not involved in that conflict. The other thing that you see written often about the Flying Tigers is that they were fighting the Japanese "years before" Pearl Harbor. The truth is only Chenault was in China in the '30's helping out. The ground crews, pilots, and planes were not in place until November of 1941. Their first combat mission occurred on December 20, 13 days AFTER Pearl Harbor. Dennis Morgan, Alan Hale, & Richard Loo play their characters very well. Some people today are offended by all of the racial slurs that are uttered. But when this movie was made in 1945, the Japanese were the hated villains. The soldier's dilemma of taking lives as their duty versus what the 10 commandments says is dealt with tastefully in this movie. It's an enjoyable film that represents movies of the 1940's well.

God is my Co-Pilot is one of the best War Movies ever made. This movie was not available on Video for a while, and it was after fans have been screaming for it to come out on Video that it was finally released. Dennis Morgan plays Col. Robert Lee Scott, an Army Pilot who was looking for combat duty in World War II. He ends up in China with The Flying Tigers and flies with them on numerous missions. Richard Loo as "Tokyo Joe", a big mouth, over confident Japanese Fighter Pilot who communicates with his enemies over the radio and welcomes any chance to clash with Scott. This movie may not be as accurate as the book but it still a great movie with great combat scenes with P-40s and T-6 Texans as Japanese Zeros.