This film with Gary Cooper, Jane Wyatt (Mrs "Sarek" from Star Trek), and Walter Brennan, is about the history of Naval Air Power: Starting with the country's general stupidity about air power regarding aircraft carriers- And the fight against such stupidity and the eventual win of level heads and an adequate task force in the pacific during WW II.
What is unusual about this film is that it begins in Black and White and is filmed as if it were a film made in the 30's - And about halfway through it becomes colourised. This film starts in the early 20's when there were very few carriers and aircraft and pilots to fly them. Cooper's character fights (Along with Brennan who is his immediate superior) to get better Naval Air Power. He is rebuffed by his superiors but never lets up... And eventually, after the incident in June 1942 where 3 Aircraft Carriers took out four Japanese carriers but were sunk or damaged themselves, the Navy was granted a better carrier force.
Lots of great war footage is used in this film: They did not use special effects for Aerial battle scenes in moovies like these: It is odd to think that when you see a plane being shot down, a real person got killed in the crash.
But the point of such films is not really entertainment: At the start of WW II the US had just about nothing as far as armed forces were concerned. It took decades to get to the point were we had what it took to take on a country with a superior maritime tradition.
The real war footage is a stark reminder of things that happened. In recent years, this trend of using real war footage has again cropped up in a few pictures. For example, in "The Chronicles of Riddick," the "fireworks" in a battle are real rockets from Iraq.
This film ends with Cooper retiring, and we see jets flying across the sky- So in a way, this film not only is showing us the history of Naval Air power, but also of Hollywood film-making.
And that makes "Task Force" a clever and important film.
What is unusual about this film is that it begins in Black and White and is filmed as if it were a film made in the 30's - And about halfway through it becomes colourised. This film starts in the early 20's when there were very few carriers and aircraft and pilots to fly them. Cooper's character fights (Along with Brennan who is his immediate superior) to get better Naval Air Power. He is rebuffed by his superiors but never lets up... And eventually, after the incident in June 1942 where 3 Aircraft Carriers took out four Japanese carriers but were sunk or damaged themselves, the Navy was granted a better carrier force.
Lots of great war footage is used in this film: They did not use special effects for Aerial battle scenes in moovies like these: It is odd to think that when you see a plane being shot down, a real person got killed in the crash.
But the point of such films is not really entertainment: At the start of WW II the US had just about nothing as far as armed forces were concerned. It took decades to get to the point were we had what it took to take on a country with a superior maritime tradition.
The real war footage is a stark reminder of things that happened. In recent years, this trend of using real war footage has again cropped up in a few pictures. For example, in "The Chronicles of Riddick," the "fireworks" in a battle are real rockets from Iraq.
This film ends with Cooper retiring, and we see jets flying across the sky- So in a way, this film not only is showing us the history of Naval Air power, but also of Hollywood film-making.
And that makes "Task Force" a clever and important film.