Pilot No. 5 (1943)
Directed by George Sidney
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson
Pilot No. 5 is an oddly liberal-minded film to come from conservative old MGM. Franchot Tone plays an army pilot stationed in Java who volunteers for a suicide mission. He is chosen from five possible Allied candidates, hence the title. We learn via flashback just why Tone holds his life at so low a price; among his less pleasant reminiscences are his brief association with a demagogic Southern governor, blatantly based on Huey Long. Pilot No. 5 served to introduce Gene Kelly in a supporting role--as a nasty, pugnacious young jerk.
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Keywords
war, accident, aerial, against-all-odds, aircraft-carrier, army, barnstorming, candidate, career, carrier, crash, death, enemy, Fascism, flashback, flight, flying, friendship, governor, group, Japan, kamikaze, lawyer, mission [quest], nasty, plans, public, reminiscence, revolution, Southerner, suicide, suicide-mission, volunteer
