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Overrated and overhyped

Excellent but underrated film

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

In "Hollywood Canteen", a fictional soldier fell in love with a fictional version of Joan Leslie, a young rising leading lady who still lived at home, with mom. It's nine years later, and not looking a day older, she's starring in one of the rare films about the undeclared, but U.S. involved Korean war, aiding hospital helicopter pilots picking up the wounded. She's in love with the handsome Arthur Franz who gets a knock on the head with a pan when he sneaks up to surprise her.Reminding audiences only eight years after the end of what was supposed to be the last war that we're fighting for so much when wars are declared, this is a good natured mixture of romance and comedy as Leslie struggles with the realities of war and the real tragedy of war, which she explains is the children as they cannot fight back. Newsreel footage is seen over Leslie's narration, revealing the fear she undergoes when Franz is declared M.I.A. Sincere performances and a decent, believable script makes this a pleasing look at what women were doing in service to their country. Veteran actress Jeff Donnell plays Leslie's cheery pal, with Forrest Tucker the heroic pilot who gets into a few nail biting scrapes. This isn't much different than air missions for all those films that came out during World War II. This never gets too technical but does teach the viewer a few important facts about military life and how every cog in the wheel is necessary both in times of war and peace.

The story is based on the service of CPT Lillian Kinkella Keil, USAF, who flew casualty evacuation flights during WWII and Korea. Back in those days servicewomen were not allowed to remain on active duty if they became pregnant and had a child, even if married. So she was discharged from the USAF. She went on to work for Pam Am Airlines although I'm not sure if it was before or after the Korean War.She became a fixture at the local VFW and American Legion events many times sharing beers with the same men she cared for as a nurse. When she died in 2005, her son called my dad to arrange for a military ceremony at her funeral. The USAF had told the family they do not provide this service anymore to servicemen unless they are retired or on active duty. So it is up to former servicemen like my dad to arrange for and provide the honor guards and firing squads at such funerals.So my dad called the state director of the VFW for California and advised him of the significance of CPT Keil's service and the USAF's refusal to participate. He was told to standby for a phone call. Several hours later, the USAF called my dad and told him to stand down, that they would handle everything from here on. CPT Keil had a full honor guard, firing squad and bugler to sound taps for her ceremony.She was truly an angel.

This film brings back memories. I grew up in Fullerton, California, and most of the films I saw in the 1950s played our local Fox theater. I suspect that's where I saw "Flight Nurse." Haven't seen it since, but I do remember it. As I recall, it was the second film on a double bill."Flight Nurse" was a low budget effort, to be sure. As with many such productions, its low budget did not mean low quality. The cast was certainly competent and the script okay if not exceptional.One scene stands out in my mind, a bit of comic relief. As I recall, several of the film's characters found themselves next to a base ammo dump. One of them was doing something not considered safe practice, perhaps getting ready to throw away a lighted match. Anyway, one of the other characters criticizes the match-thrower and points to a sign posted next to a pile of bombs. The sign says "We want this ammo to explode, just not here!" The setting of this film, Korean War medical evacuations, is an interesting one. Your time won't be wasted if you watch this film, especially if you do not expect it to be another "Sands of Iwo Jima" or "Sgt. York."

Since there is only one comment about this move, I am posting this review from the NY Times from 1954!It sounds pretty awful, but the Library of Congress is showing it tomorrow for free, and there is a Thai restaurant down the street with free chicken wings, so . . . might see it!Well, I did see it, and it's not that bad! True, there is a lot of annoyingly mushy romantic stuff, but the film also shows the important and dangerous services this outfit performed. Also, she dumped the guy and stayed on as a flight nurse! N.Y. TIMES REVIEW 'Flight Nurse' Has Debut at Palace Print Save O. A. G. Published: January 30, 1954 The resolute humanity of military flight nurses and the courage of the Air Force personnel, whose job it is to transport the war wounded and injured in defenseless helicopters and planes to medical stations, are deserving of a better tribute than they receive in Republic's "Flight Nurse," which opened at the Palace yesterday.In this vapid maundering in the love life of a flight nurse in Korea we see Joan Leslie carry on a catch-as-catch-can romance with a helicopter pilot, Arthur Franz, while Forrest Tucker, an aerial ambulance driver, contends for her affections. Using every cinematic cliché in a script by Alan LeMay that included rhymed streams of consciousness, Allan Dwan, the director, chose to depict truly heroic actions with mediocrity.Mr. Dwan's concept of a flight nurse is typified in a close-up of Miss Leslie sweetly contemplating the sky while a funereal voice chants her medical credo."Flight Nurse," is concocted so that the dominant theme of Grade A, irradiated love obscures the war with its attendant medical devotion and dedication to the relief of suffering.The film is revealed for what it is when spliced-in authentic footage is occasionally shown. The supporting cast of Jeff Donnell, Ben Cooper and James Holden is adequate, acting as it was directed.A bill of eight acts of vaudeville accompanies the film.