bkoganbing If you want to see the actual story of the battle of Midway than definitely see the film that came out in the Seventies. If you can fast forward through the fictional plot involving Charlton Heston and his family problems you will see a very good documentary about the battle and how close run it was.Wing and a Prayer came out two years after and there were restrictions placed on the details, probably due to the fact that one of the reasons we won it was because we had broken the Japanese naval code. Still some of the restrictions were a bit ridiculous.Whose idea was it to cast Sir Cedric Hardwicke as an American Admiral, presumably the Chief of Naval Operations who gave us an overview of the film we were about to see in a prologue. The Chief of Naval Operations at that time was one Ernest J. King who was a rather profane man given to using universally understood words in his normal conversations. He must have had one good laugh at the very prim and proper Cedric Hardwicke playing him, in on a pass from the Royal Navy.The aircraft carrier where the story takes place is unnamed, but I think we can assume it's the Enterprise. In charge is Admiral Charles Bickford playing most probably Raymond Spruance who had tactical command of the task force at Midway.The plot of Wing and a Prayer centers around a conflict between Dana Andrews head of a torpedo squadron assigned to the carrier and Don Ameche, a stern by the book Naval commander in charge of the airplanes and their crews. Ameche and Andrews have conflicts similar to what Ameche had with Tyrone Power in films like In Old Chicago. If Power hadn't been in the Marines at the time serving in the real war in the Pacific, I'm sure he would have had Andrews's part.The usual wartime clichés and characters abound in Wing and a Prayer. One unusual part is that played by William Eythe, a Hollywood actor enlisted in the service and who's one of Andrews's pilots. This might have been Darryl F. Zanuck's idea of a tribute to his main star who as I said was actually serving.Wing and a Prayer is not a bad film, but with Midway out there it's just not the best film on the subject.

Robert J. Maxwell This is a pretty rudimentary war flick, the story of Torpedo Squadron 5 aboard a US carrier after Pearl Harbor and during the battle of Midway. Nobody is more than one dimensional and everybody is predictable. The acting isn't bad, though, and the scenes of TBFs or TBMs landing and taking off are exciting to watch. These were big airplanes with 3-man crews and pretty cozy inside. George Bush flew one during the war and chose to do so because it gave him a chance to work aloft with a team instead of alone. Most of the combat footage is familiar from other movies but some is not. The real footage is pretty much a sloppy lash up as was usual at the time. Curtiss Helldivers are repeatedly shown although they weren't deployed at the time, nor were they an improvement over the dive bombers they replaced. Ditto for the Gruman Hellcats. There are some shots of F4F Wildcats, which DID participate at Midway, but they're used as stand-ins for Japanese Zeroes! As for the accuracy of the story itself, there were carrier strikes against Japanese bases after Pearl Harbor and before Midway, although they were more a matter of showing the flag than doing substantial damage. And at Midway, alas, American torpedo planes not only failed to damage the Japanese forces but were savaged by Japanese fighters and by AA. The dive bombers saved the day for us, aided by submarines, and all four Japanese carriers went down, along with all their airplanes and many of their most experienced pilots, while we lost the hastily repaired Yorktown. The chief reason for our success was our having broken the Japanese code, so we knew they were coming. The Japanese also canceled the attack on Midway even though there was a decent chance they could have succeeded without their carriers. They were to do something similar at Leyte Gulf two years later. If Halsey, who was given to issuing orders like "Attack -- repeat -- attack," had been in charge at Midway instead of the more cautious Spruance things might have turned out differently. But these sorts of twists, errors, and lack of subtleties were common in war movies at the time. It's a decent, watchable movie. It gives you a rather good feeling for what it was like to be a crew member of a TBF, where they were positioned with respect to one another -- that sort of thing. Its spirit is true to the times, so to speak.

dgraham61 The Movie was shot on the back lot of 20th Century Fox. The studio used sailors from NAS Longbeach Ca. as extras for about 2 weeks . In the Scene when a Bomb hits the Ship i am the first man on the fire hose . They had built part of a Carrier Deck over a lake and used SBD'S on this deck for close ups but then used film footage from actual battle scene's in between . This explains difference of planes and ships.

dexter-10 The best characteristic of this film is the fine quality of the film in terms of cinematic depth-of-field and clarity. There is excellent camera work, especially in the complicated action scenes. Each scene is balanced and seemingly well-edited. The theme of the movie is somewhat weak relative to the fight/no fight stance of the U.S. Navy, and it is overpowered by the many action scenes which resemble a "Victory at Sea" format. The facts of the battle at Midway Island as presented in this movie are somewhat questionable. The superior forces of the Japanese Imperial Navy could best any navy in early June of 1942. That good fortune played a role in the American fleet's victory is not in question, that poor planning and accident forced the Japanese Imperial Navy's tactics is also accepted. Beyond these general facts it is difficult to accept the overstatement that the position of the U.S. Navy was that "This is the battle we've been praying for." There is also some question in the film as to the accuracy of the reports concerning the U.S. torpedo planes' success. In essence, the Battle of Midway was decisive, and very lucky for the Americans. To present the battle and victory as well planned and well coordinated is misleading. A word on acting: Don Ameche as Commander Bingo Harper is outstanding. His performance is solid in terms of the classic dramatic hero. As commander, he never wavers from his responsibility, he does what must be done, and he understands both how much victory means and what price must be paid.