![]() On the ground, the characters are equally machinemade, from the taciturn commanding officer to the heartless general to the shameless flack. The Flying Fortress used in "Memphis Belle" has such a large crew that the movie is fatally slowed as the screenplay works its way around and around the characters, trying to keep them all alive.Įach character is a different cliche: the cool and calculated captain, the jittery gunner and his practical-joking sidekick, the superstitious one, etc. Michael Powell used exactly the same strategy to introduce the bomber crew members in his wartime drama "One of Our Aircraft is Missing," with the difference that he used a Wellington bomber, because its crew of six was easier for the audience to keep straight. And given the fact that these man have flown 24 missions together, I hardly thought it necessary for them to introduce themselves by name to their pilot - but then the introductions really were for us, and the roll call was an economical way to explain their various jobs - co-pilot, radioman, navigator, tail gunner, bombardier, etc. man ( John Lithgow), assigned to stage-manage the final raid for Life magazine. The voice-over narration is by an Army Air Force P.R. The crew, we learn, has survived 24 bombing raids over Germany. Then, later, we learn what assignments they have onboard the Memphis Belle when the pilot holds a roll call and they sign in, giving their names and battle stations. ![]() The movie begins while we see the young men playing football, and a voice-over narration names them and provides them with thumbnail character sketches. They have to introduce a dozen crew members of the Memphis Belle, and then somehow make them all memorable within the cramped confines of a plot where most of them have to wear oxygen masks most of the time. ![]()
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