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Thunder Birds (1942) [NR]

Featuring:
Gene Tierney, Preston Foster, John Sutton

Written by:
Lamar Trotti
Darryl F. Zanuck
Laurence Stallings

Directed by:
William A. Wellman


Release Date:
October 28, 1942

Original Title:
Thunder Birds

Alternate Titles:
Thunder Birds [Soldiers of the Air]

Genres:
Drama | Romance | War

Production Companies:
20th Century Fox

Production Countries:
United States of America

Ratings / Certifications:
US: NR 

Runtime: 78

For two pilots, one woman became a conflict of interest.

Overview from TheMovieDB

On a secluded base in Arizona, veteran World War I pilot Steve Britt trains flyers to fight in World War II. One of his trainees, Englishman Peter Stackhouse, competes with Britt for the affections of Kay Saunders, the daughter of a local rancher. Despite their differences, Britt makes sure Sutton passes his training and becomes a combat pilot -- even though he loses Kay to the young man in the process.

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Overview from Open Movies

Technicolor tale of honor and romance. This drama from 1942 was directed by Oscar-winner William A. Wellman, and features stunning aerial photography, that was highly advanced for the time. John Sutton stars as Peter Stackhouse, a British aviophobe who is nonetheless determined to become a pilot. Stackhouse's resolution comes from his desire to serve his country, and his strength is recognized by Steve Britt (Preston Foster), who becomes his patient teacher. The two men's bond is tested, however, when they both fall for the same girl (Gene Tierney).

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Rankings and Honors

Thunder Birds (1942) on IMDb
Internet Movie Database 6.1/10

Performers

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Production

Art Direction:
James Basevi
Richard Day

Costume Design:
Dolly Tree

Director:
William A. Wellman

Director of Photography:
Ernest Palmer

Editor:
Walter Thompson

Executive Producer:
Darryl F. Zanuck

Makeup Artist:
Guy Pearce

Music:
David Buttolph

Producer:
Lamar Trotti

Screenplay:
Lamar Trotti

Set Decoration:
Thomas Little

Story:
Darryl F. Zanuck

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Most data and links to images for the Movies section come from TheMovieDB (TMDB).

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Data are -- hey, it's a plural -- subject to the limitations of their sources. (For example, TMDB search results currently max out at 20.) I am limiting myself to free data sources for now. (No, a "free trial" is not free.)

While much of the above data are retrieved directly from outside APIs and other such sources, data from American Film Institute (AFI) and British Film Institute (BFI) were manually entered the old fashioned way into a MySQL database. Re BFI I took the following liberties:

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Whether or not he still clings to an award which he won in 1986 as a film critic for his college's newspaper, Jeffrey Hartmann is not responsible for the texts of overviews and biographies supplied by external data sources.