Mosquito Squadron
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Movie Reviews of Mosquito Squadron
Movie Review: Mosquito Squadron
Summary: 3 Stars
David McCallum was better in Man From Uncle but it has a place in history and viewingMovie Review: Great DVD of a Poor Movie
Summary: 2 Stars
CONCERNING THE DVD:
Yet another MGM quickie, containing the film in its correct 1.66:1 aspect ratio with some nicely restored video elements. The footage from other films that was edited in looks poor. The 2.0 Mono soundtrack is in good shape. There are basic subtitles in French and Spanish, scene selections as well as a beat-up trailer.
CONCERNING THE FILM: (from my website, www.angelfire.com/film/eurowar)
The always-overrated David McCallum is one of the few good things in this low-budget World War II adventure piece, yet another quickie from Oakmont Films.
Sometime prior to D-Day - probably early '44 or '43 - a Mosquito Squadron is sent to bomb a V-1 rocket installation in France, when Squadron Leader Scott (David Buck) is shot down and presumed dead. His second-in-command, Quint Munroe (who just happens to be like a life-long brother to him) has to return to England and tell his beautiful blonde wife (Suzanne Neve) the sad news. As one would expect, Munroe and Mrs. Scott slowly fall in love. But when Munroe is chosen to lead a mission to bomb a new V-3 development center, things will chance quite a bit - because Scott is a prisoner held at the target fortress!
From start to finish, "Mosquito Squadron" is a total hack-job - literally. The story is filled with enough contrivances and clichés to drive any mildly serious critic mad. Let us take a brief look at a 1964 film entitled "633 Squadron". In said film, a squadron commander has a best friend shot down over Norway, and falls in love with his sister. Later on, he is assigned to bomb the fortress where his friend is being held. Sound familiar? And that's not all our title film steals! Virtually all of the aerial battle footage is directly lifted from "633 Squadron", while the new footage is comprised almost entirely of horrible-looking miniatures hanging from far-too-visible wires.
The writers have also directly copied another classic war film, "The Dam Busters". The feasibility of Munroe's mission revolves around a bouncing bomb, which will skip along the ground and roll into an open tunnel leading to the V-3 rockets. (I won't even mention how convenient it was to leave a big open tunnel to drop a bomb into). The real bouncing bomb (made famous in 1954's "The Dam Busters") was designed to skip on water to destroy Nazi dams - not the ground as is seen here! The idea of dropping a bouncing bomb on the ground is, simply, ludicrous and impossible. Introduction of this concept kills the storyline immediately.
The low budget shows up in every action sequence: the French resistance force is comprised of a half-dozen men in berets carrying Sten guns, and only a handful of German guards enforce security at the "fortress". The forests are obviously cheaply furnished soundstages, and a face-off with an imitation German "tank" is ludicrously shot. We never really see much of the German-held Chateau, and when we do it never looks as though we're inside some high-tech development center a la "Operation Crossbow". The scenes set in England fare somewhat better, with some excellent scenes set at airfields and a rather rowdy officer's club.
David McCallum and the cast of little-known English actors do a fair job, even though the no-frills script doesn't give them much to do. McCallum is a fair actor, nowhere near as great as his fans hail him to be, though. He was better suited for television than cinema, and that comes out in every scene. He often looks uncomfortable and awkward, but delivers his often banal dialog convincingly and with conviction. His scenes with Neve are often touching, even though audiences have seen this dozens of times before. There aren't any other actors worth mention among the ensemble, besides perhaps Charles Gray who would go on to play Blofeld in the James Bond film "Diamonds are Forever" a few years later.
Oakmont Productions financed a number of cheap British war films in the late 1960s and early 1970s: "Attack on the Iron Coast", "Hell Boats", "The Last Escape" and "The One Thousand Plane Raid" among them. These quickies were best suited for TV viewing instead of theatrical release, but United Artists picked them all up and put them on the big screen. Anyone expecting a classic here - or in any of the aforementioned pieces for that matter - is in for a big disappointment. Check out "633 Squadron" instead.
Movie Review: Routine war melodrama starring the Mosquito-bomber
Summary: 2 Stars
Havent seen the DVD, but seen the movie on TV several times in the 70s, wasnt overly impressed then, so would be less so now.If youve seen 633 Squadron, then watch this, yes, youve seen most of the aerial action in THAT better movie. This time is a hybrid mission involving rockets or rocket-fuel like '633, but with a potentially thrilling resistance-fighter jailbreak facilitated by the Mosquitoes blowing-down the walls with dambuster-style Upkeep/Highball bouncing-bombs as a bonus target: might seem they are borrowing from here and there of previous movies, but there really was an epic RAF operation against Amiens Prison housing French Resistance fighters during the war, known aptly as Operation Jericho, ( the walls came tumbling down)so its ok to overlap other movies when it also reflects fact, of course.
Anyway, its too low-budgety to do much, saves heaps with using the 633 Squadron sequences, much as movies like 'Midway' used the wonderful combat sequences from 'Tora Tora Tora', and has a melodrama that the dreadful 'Pearl Harbor' probably ripped off, the pilot disappears in combat, certainly KIA, brave late pilots buddy hooks-up late pilots foxy squeeze,they both feel bad about it, but they do it anyway, then dead-hero inconveniently has not been killed, is alive, shaken but not stirred,POW, but now pilot feeling bad about being busy with not-so-dead buddies lady, also has to fly-off and probably off the presumed-dead buddy for real this time himself as inevitable collateral damage with the Nazi target he has to drop bombs on to win the ruddy war.
If you like 633 Squadron, this is definately inferior but with many melodramatic similiarities,Cliff Robertson in '633 also had to grease one of the friendlies thanks to those horrid Germans, it lacks 633s stratosperic atmospheric soaring Ron Goodwin theme-music, and really, I wouldnt drop the dough unless you just cant get enough of the admittedly exciting and beautiful Mosquito bomber in any vehicle.
Movie Review: A mediocre stew of every WWII-flick cliche - don't bother
Summary: 2 Stars
David McCallum, in the initial stages of his long slide down and out after his "Man From U.N.C.L.E" stint, stars in this hopelessly cliched WWII flying flick. As "Quint Munroe", he watches his Squadron Leader-wingman crash and burn. But wait - that wasn't just his Squadron Leader - it's his sort-of-brother! (Don't ask.) Crushed with guilt and remorse, his duty is to tell the dead pilot's wife. But wait - not only was this his best-friend and sort-of-brother's wife, she was HIS girlfriend first! Next, he must tell the pilot's parents, who are his sort-of-parents. Phew. What emotions all this raise, in everyone EXCEPT McCallum, who must have taken stiff-acting lessons from a fence-post.
Naturally McCallum takes over the squadron, and naturally, they are selected for one of those "only you can do it" missions, this time taking out a "V3 and "V4" launch site/plant. Someone had watched "Dambusters" once too often, because they decide that the best approach is to use the "Barnes Wallis" spinning bomb - on a land target. But wait - in an entirely predictable plot-thickener, a German pilot literally drops a bit of info on them that gives them pause in their plans.
OK, I stand second to NO one in my love of flying movies and Mosquitos are at the very top of my list. (Go read my review of "633 Squadron", please.) These just don't hack it, and the "outside cockpit" shots are really awful. The plot is tired, the acting is a cypher, and you know, I couldn't even be bothered to finish it. It's nice to see real airplanes instead of CGI (how long, o lord, how long will we be afflicted with THAT gimmick?), but it simply isn't worth it in THIS flick. Watch "633 Squadron" or "Battle of Britain" or "Dambusters" or "12 O'Clock High" or......you get the idea.
Movie Review: Mediocre Mosquito
Summary: 2 Stars
I loved 633 Squadron so much I decided to give this movie a shot. You can imagine my disappointment when I saw many of the same flying scenes borrowed from 633 squadron. I am a fan of David McCallum but this movie has trouble redeeming itself amongst good war movies.It is a decent movie but if you are an avid fan of movies like 633 Squadron, Battle of Britain, and Memphis Belle, you probably will be disappointed. I'm afraid after one viewing I donated my DVD to the library.
The DVD quality is good and picture and sound quality are solid. I just wish that MGM had not tried to make the original movie so cheaply and borrowed so much from 633 Squadron and they had added some more well known actors and actresses to make it stand out.