Screaming Eagles (1956)

Tom Tryon ("Texas John Slaughter")Jan Merlin ("The Rough Riders")Martin Milner ("Route 66", "Adam-12")Jacqueline Beer ("77 Sunset Strip")Paul Burke ("Naked City", "12 O'Clock High")Pat Conway ("Tombstone Territory")Robert Blake ("The Richard Boone Show", "Baretta")The director was Harvard educated Charles F. Haas. Haas' best film was "Platinum High School" with Mickey Rooney, Terry Moore, Dan Duryea, Yvette Mimieux, Richard Jaeckel, and Elisha Cook, Jr. The film was a reworking of "Bad Day at Black Rock". Haas also directed "Showdown at Abilene" with future TV stars Jock Mahoney ("Yancy Derringer"), Grant Williams ("Hawaiian Eye"), and David Janssen ("Richard Diamond"). And Haas directed 4 films highlighting the talents of Mamie Van Doren.Haas later directed episodes of "Route 66", "77 Sunset Strip", "Alfred Hitchcock Hour", and "The Outer Limits". Haas used Richard Jaeckel again in his "Alfred Hitchcock Hour" and Grant Williams in one of his "Outer Limits". Inger Stevens starred in Haas' "Route 66" and "Alfred Hitchcock Hour."Haas died in 2011 at the age of 97.Co-screenwriter David Lang went on to write episodes of "Maverick", "Cheyenne", "Have Gun - Will Travel", "Wanted: Dead or Alive", "The Rebel", and "Tombstone Territory".Robert Presnell, Jr., the other screenwriter, wrote episodes of "Twilight Zone", "The Eleventh Hour", "Mr. Novak", and "Banacek". He was married for 40 years to Marsha Hunt ("Raw Deal").The story for "Screaming Eagles" was by two-time Oscar nominee Virginia Kellogg ("White Heat", "Caged").

***SPOILERS*** True story about the US 101st Airborne divisions drop behind enemy lines in order to secure a number of bridges before the Germans could blow them up as the allies were about to launch the D-Day invasion of Normandy. It took a lot of explaining to his men for Lt.Pauling, Jan Marlin, to convince them to have drunk disorderly and a bit psychotic, that's after he got a Dear John letter from his girl back home, Pvt. Mason, Tom Tryon, to go along with them on their pre-invasion jump that could well have cost them all their lives by him screwing things up.Sobering up after a night of heavy drinking Pvt. Mason got his act together and in the end was responsible for getting his unit the 502th out of the mess that they, by over shooting their landing zone, got themselves into. From that point on it was a fight for survival for the paratroopers who were desperately trying to link up with their main force some 20 miles away. It was local French farm girl Marianne, Jackie Beer, who helped the paratroopers in her being able to speak and understand German that kept German POW Hans, Robert Boon, from alerting his fellow Nazis on the radio that there was something up, the 101st, behind their lines.Pvt. Mason who was at first accused of alerting the Germans by killing one, with his bayonet, just as he was about to open fire on him later proved his worth to the airborne unit by saving his commanding officer Lt. Pauling's life by taking his hand and guiding him back to the advancing allied troops after he was blinded by a flash from a Nazi's gun muzzle.Realistc film about the D-Day or pre-D-Day invasion with the American & allied troops suffering almost as many losses as the Germens did. We get to see just how hard it was to make the invasion a success with the mostly green US troops, many in combat for the first time, up against the best that the German Army had to offer. As for French girl Marianne she in the end became an honorary 101st Screaming Eagle for the help she provided in keeping the lost in the woods US paratroopers from all getting killed and captured by the German troops. As for Pvt. Mason he soon forget about his Dear John letter from the states and finally got down to business in fighting the war that he ignored, by drinking himself drunk, for so long.

Tom Tryon's first movie. He is over the top as being the most unlikeable soldier in the 101st Division. Some 20 miles behind German lines on Day-D minus 12 hours they are casually taking prisioners. They encounter a tri-lingual French woman for sweet talking the Germans who let them pass thru to the American lines in the North. It's all highly improbable. The bad attitude shown by Private Mason (Tryon) should have gotten him transfered into a less critical position. I think of all the unlikely things in this movie, the fact that no one beats the stuffing out of Mason is the most unusual thing about the movie. Another strange thing about this movie, is that the unit doesn't accomplish its mission, you get reminded at the end what they were supposed to do in the first place.

One interesting thing about watching multi-character movies is the increased chance of spotting future stars. War movies are good for doing that especially. In this movie, several minor actors became bigger stars. Another highlight of this movie are the use of script devices that add energy to the plot. Imagine being blind behind enemy lines. Or become frustrated with language barriers to the point of using creativity to overcome that hindrance. It is worth a look.