A dead World War II bomber pilot, Pete Sandidge becomes the guardian angel of another pilot, Ted Randall. He guides Ted through battle and helping him to romance his old girlfriend, despite ... Read allA dead World War II bomber pilot, Pete Sandidge becomes the guardian angel of another pilot, Ted Randall. He guides Ted through battle and helping him to romance his old girlfriend, despite her excessive devotion to Sandidge's memory.A dead World War II bomber pilot, Pete Sandidge becomes the guardian angel of another pilot, Ted Randall. He guides Ted through battle and helping him to romance his old girlfriend, despite her excessive devotion to Sandidge's memory.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 2 nominations total
- James J. Rourke
- (as Don De Fore)
- Officer in Heaven
- (uncredited)
- Cadet
- (uncredited)
- Sergeant in Chinese Restaurant
- (uncredited)
- Waiter
- (uncredited)
- Cpl. Henderson
- (uncredited)
- Charwoman
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaA Guy Named Joe (1943) was reportedly director Steven Spielberg's favorite and remade by him in 1989. Spielberg's film, entitled Always (1989), starred Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter and Brad Johnson in the principal roles, as the same Pete Sandich, Durinda Durston and Al Yackey. The characters of "Ted" and "Nails" were also included. The setting of that film was updated to the present and centered on the activities of forest fire-fighting pilots. Spielberg also included a clip from 'A Guy Named Joe' in his film Poltergeist (1982).
- GoofsLate in the movie Dorinda (Irene Dunne) is wearing the uniform of a Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP), apparently still ferrying airplanes. However, WASPs never ferried planes to overseas locations, especially combat areas such as New Guinea, which is in the Southwest Pacific. Earlier in the movie she is in England; however, she was wearing a British uniform and women regularly ferried planes there and even encountered combat conditions.
- Quotes
The General: No man is really dead unless he breaks faith with the future, and no man is really alive unless he accepts his responsibility to it.
- Crazy creditsThe film ends with the following written inscription: "To Families and Friends of Men and Women in Our Armed Forces. The picture you have just seen is being shown in combat areas overseas with the compliments of the American Motion Picture Industry."
- ConnectionsFeatured in MGM Parade: Episode #1.10 (1955)
- SoundtracksThe Army Air Corps Song
(uncredited)
Written by Robert Crawford
Played during the opening credits and partially sung by an off-screen male chorus
Played as background music often and at the end
*** (out of 4)
Well-acted drama has a hot shot pilot (Spencer Tracy) getting killed during a WW2 battle leaving his fiancé (Irene Dunne) all alone. The dead pilot eventually comes back as a ghost to help a young pilot (Van Johnson) but soon his morals come into question when the young man starts dating his fiancé. This here seems to remain a popular movie considering how many times Turner Classic Movies plays it a year. The same can't be said for the Steven Spielberg remake, Always, which seems to have already been forgotten as one of the director's minor works. This film here is certainly sappy and predictable but the wonderful cast makes it very entertaining to watch even though the running time is a tad bit long. Tracy leads the way with a very touching performance that lets the actor show off various emotions ranging from anger to sweetness to even some nice comic tones. Tracy was also great at playing the tough guy with a heart and this here is no exception. Dunne is good in her role but I was surprised to see how blandly written it was. She basically just sits around (or stands) waiting for one of the men to come up to her and considering how star level at the time it's rather shocking to see her role not juiced up a bit. Johnson steals the film as the new pilot who mirrors Tracy's character too much. The naive innocence Johnson brings to the role is quite memorable. Lionel Barrymore, James Gleason and Ward Bond all offer up nice support. Barry Nelson and Esther Williams have small roles as well. The are a few battle scenes, which look extremely well including the main battle at the middle of the film when Tracy gets killed. The aerial footage was well shot and manages to be quite dramatic as well. The cinematography is another plus as is the music score. Again, the main problem tends to be in the screenplay, which really doesn't allow for too many surprises and that includes the ending, which isn't believable and really comes off rather silly. The great cast makes it worth watching though.
- Michael_Elliott
- Feb 24, 2009
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Kahraman gölge
- Filming locations
- Columbia Army Air Base, Columbia, South Carolina, USA(air scenes, backdrops and process shots)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $2,627,000 (estimated)
- Runtime2 hours
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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