Desperate Journey (1942)

Touches You

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

WW2 action movie has Errol Flynn leading a RAF bombing mission into Germany and being shot down by the Nazis. Flynn and his crew (including Alan Hale and Ronald Reagan) are taken prisoner but manage to escape with some valuable information. Now the men fight to get out of Germany alive, doing as much damage and killing as many Nazis as they can along the way.This one is just so much fun between the exciting action scenes and the zippy dialogue delivered by a great Warner Bros cast. There's never a dull moment! Raoul Walsh directs with style and a great pace. The always-reliable Errol Flynn leads a terrific lineup that includes the aforementioned Reagan and Hale plus Arthur Kennedy, Ronald Sinclair, Nancy Coleman, Sig Ruman, and Albert Basserman. Ronald Reagan has one of his most enjoyable roles here, snapping off quotable lines one after another. Raymond Massey plays the lead Nazi and makes for a fine villain. An interesting thing about this movie that may surprise some viewers is that, unlike most WW2 films that were understandably serious in tone, this one has such a light, humorous feel that it's almost jarring upon first viewing. You have protagonists killing and also dying, yet nobody stops for more than a minute to dwell on that before continuing with the quips and punches. It's fascinating to watch and so very entertaining but some won't care for the "whistling past the graveyard" approach the film takes. I definitely recommend you give it a shot, particularly if you're a fan of the many excellent movies Errol Flynn and WB made to help with the war effort. This is one of the best.

When the mission begins and the crew is ready to take off, the captain says, "Start port outboard engine" (this would be the left side of the plane farthest away from the fuselage). Yet the camera flips to the inboard starboard side and the engine starts followed by the other engines.The movie is a bit of a feel-good movie but it's also fun. Alan Hale Sr. (father of the "Skipper" on TV series "Gilligan's Island") often plays comic relief (e.g. with Mr. Flynn in "Robin Hood") and he does it well. Lots of quick one-liners you will enjoy.There's a lot of German language without subtitles but the even though I don't know German it doesn't hurt the plot. In fact, the meaning is fairly obvious even if you don't know German and gives a better feel to the idea of being in a foreign country during war.

An obvious, nearly nonsensical WW2 propaganda movie about a bunch of fliers fighting their way across Nazi Germany. It's wildly inaccurate and unrepresentative of the war, has very little redeeming artistic value as a piece of cinematic art and is basically a pointless piece of filler churned out by the studio system of the nineteen forties.I enjoyed it immensely when I saw it on TV, years ago.As has been pointed out in other comments, the 'german' in this movie is hilarious to anyone with even the slightest passing acquaintance with the language. As I say, it has been a long while since I saw this film, but if I recall correctly one character utters the amazing line "Schnell! Schnell! Volkswagen!" as she points pursuing soldiers in the right direction.

I just love this picture. It was the first movie I ever saw and I keep coming back to it because it's pure escapism. Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan were never better than in this World War II saga of Royal Air Forcers downed behind enemy lines. They escape Nazi capture and take the audience on a rousing adventure as they make a high spirited bid to reach home. Never a dull moment, this is an obvious precursor to the Indiana Jones films. Raymond Massey is pure evil as the Nazi commandant who relentlessly pursues the fliers. Arthur Kennedy and Alan Hale provide able support and welcome humor as RAF comrades sharing in the robust flight across Germany. Not to be missed!