Trailer
Plot summary
During World War II, a British bomber crew flies toward a German railway junction at Schneidemühl. A German interceptor attacks the plane, and Squadron Leader Lane-Ferris is badly wounded. Flight Lt. Terry Forbes takes command and completes the bombing mission. The bomber is hit and comes down near the former Polish border. Five crewmen survive and are captured: Forbes, Johnny Hammond, Kirk Edwards, Jed Forrest, and Lloyd Hollis. Major Otto Baumeister interrogates them. They overpower their guards and search his office, finding documents that list six hidden Messerschmitt aircraft factories. They decide to carry this intelligence back to England.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Desperate Journey (1942)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Ronald Reagan, an Air Force reservist before the war, was called up for active service while Desperate Journey was shooting. Warners lobbied for a 30-day extension, the Army offered only two weeks, and director Raoul Walsh had to shoot Reagan's scenes out of sequence and use a double.
- During production Errol Flynn's February 1942 draft board physical revealed tuberculosis in his right lung. He hid the condition from Warner Bros. rather than face an unpaid layoff, and as the shoot went on he dropped to 165 pounds, so his wardrobe was refitted and then padded.
- Studio bosses knew Desperate Journey was being screened while its star Errol Flynn was on trial for rape, and the negative publicity actually enhanced ticket sales. The film grossed $2 million for Warner Bros., the third Flynn film that year to reach that mark.
- The film's showcase scene was Ronald Reagan's fast-paced doubletalk under interrogation by Raymond Massey. Errol Flynn lobbied intensely for the same scene, but after a closed-door shouting match with director Raoul Walsh the producer insisted that no changes to the script would be accepted.
- Desperate Journey was rushed into production to exploit America's recent entry into World War II, which meant the script problems Vincent Sherman had identified before he was replaced as director were never really fixed.
- Warner Bros. sat in close proximity to the Lockheed aircraft plant and was able to "borrow" a production Lockheed Hudson bomber for the film, an aircraft that was already destined for RAF use.
