Desperate Journey

Five crew survive when an Allied bomber is shot down over Germany, and they are taken prisoner. During questioning they come by important information about German defence production, knock out a major and escape. What follows is an attempt to cross Germany end to end, with the Gestapo and the army behind them and a deadline to get the information back to England. Raoul Walsh made the film in 1942, in the middle of the war; the aim was morale, not realism. Errol Flynn plays the officer leading the crew and Ronald Reagan the American among them. The escape scenes are fast and nearly playful; the danger is constant but there is no fear. Raymond Massey plays the German major. What makes the film interesting today is that it shows how the war was told while the war was still going on.