This trite reworking by Nicholas Ray of many themes (and characters) familiar from films such as Howard Hawks's masterly 1943 movie Air Force is corny, obvious and not really good enough. John Wayne and particularly Robert Ryan seem distinctly uncomfortable in their leading roles, flying studio mock-ups of planes against Technicolor back projection and dutifully conveying a gung-ho spirit without any real enthusiasm. The acting honours are stolen by grizzled veteran Jay C Flippen, who's well cast as a wily sergeant, but this must go down as another terribly disappointing early work from Ray, whose Rebel without a Cause remains a key movie of the 1950s.

Major Daniel Kirby takes command of a squadron of Marine fliers just before they are about to go into combat. While the men are well meaning, he finds them undisciplined and prone to always finding excuses to do what is easy rather than what is necessary. The root of the problem is the second in command, Capt. Carl 'Griff' Griffin. Griff is the best flier in the group but Kirby finds him a poor commander who is not prepared to make the difficult decision that all commanders have to make - to put men in harm's way knowing that they may be killed.