Word: squadronal
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...seven when the Civil War was lost and a squadron of Union cavalry rode down a dusty road and into his home town of Lynchburg, Va. A blue-clad rider hauled him up into the saddle and asked: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" He was frail, sickly and small for his age. But he struck out wildly and screamed: "A Confederate major who shoots Yankees." Carter Glass never outgrew his frailty, his sickliness, his ferocity with fists and tongue. And he never forgot -not for a minute-he was a Virginian and a Democrat...
...identities of four other persons accused of giving secrets to the Russians: 1) Dr. Raymond Boyer, a McGill University chemistry professor who had worked on a super-explosive known as "R.D.X."; 2) Harold Samuel Gerson, a scientist who worked for the Department of Munitions & Supply; 3) R.C.A.F. Squadron Leader Matt Simons Nightingale; 4) Dr. David Shugar, who worked on anti-submarine devices while in the Canadian Navy. Five other "detainees" were still to be identified...
Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 3 admittedly played a gallant role in the delaying action of the Philippine retreat. But MGM has succumbed to the usual temptation of ascribing too much glory to too small a company. What was originally an honest account of the P.T. boats' performance has now been magnified and somewhat distorted; too many guns and too much shooting have detracted from the realism which could have made this one of the few really good war pictures...
...best scenes--and there are quite a few good ones--take place on dry land. Superior direction by Ford, just out of the Navy himself, is responsible for several excellent episodes: the gently humorous and sometimes tragic incidents in the life of the squadron, the quite irony of the potent little boats being relegated to messenger duty by a disbelieving admiral, the well-restrained and completely credible injection of the inevitable love interest...
...performance by Bob Montgomery, who saw much real-life service with the mosquito boats, as the screen counterpart of Commander Bulkeley is natural and eminently satisfactory. So also is John Wayne's playing of the Squadron's executive officer, and Donna Reed is quite acceptable as the Army nurse who falls for Wayne; she is "good to have around...