Jet Attack: Difference between revisions

| image = Jet_Attack_(1958)_poster.jpg

| writer = [[Orville H. Hampton]] (screenplay)<br>[[Mark Hanna (screenwriter)|Mark Hanna]] (story)

| starring = [[John Agar]]<br>[[Audrey Totter]]<br>[[Gregory Walcott]]

| studio = Catalina Productions

| released = February{{Film date|1958|02}}

'''''Jet Attack''''' (also known as '''''Jet Alert''''' and released in the UK as '''''Through Hell to Glory''''') is a 1958 American [[aviation]] war film set in the [[Korean War]], featuring [[United States Air Force]] (USAF) aircraft.<ref>[http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/79748/Jet-Attack/ "'Jet Attack'."] ''[[Turner Classic Movies]]''. Retrieved: March 15, 2015.</ref>

During the Korean War, scientist Dean Olmstead (Joseph Hamilton) designs a long-range radio transmitting and tracking device for the United States Air Force. During testing of the device, Capt. Tom Arnett (John Agar), leading an escort of [[North American F-86 Sabre]] jet fighters, is unable to prevent Olmstead's [[North American B-25 Mitchell]] bomber being shot down in North Korea. His commanding officer, Col. Catlett ([[George Cisar (actor)|George Cisar]]) plans a rescue of the scientist, whom he believes is still alive and may be undergoing interrogation by Russian[[Main Intelligence Directorate (Soviet Union)|Soviet intelligence agents]] working with the North Koreans.

Arnett and Lt. Bill Clairborn ([[Gregory Walcott]]) are assigned to go into North Korea and bring back Olmstead. After parachuting behind enemy lines, they meet up with guerrilla leader Capt. Chon ([[Victor Sen Yung]]), who takes them to Tanya Nikova ([[Audrey Totter]]), a Russian nurse, who has been working as a spy for the guerrillas. Tanya had previously been romantically involved with Arnett, but proves invaluable to the mission. She knows that the scientist may be under care of her boss, Col. Kuban ([[Robert Carricart]]), a Russian doctor. After they discover Olmstead's whereabouts and bring him out of the prison camp where he was being treated for a concussion, the group is pursued by North Korean Maj. Wan ([[Leonard Strong (actor)|Leonard Strong]]). Tanya is wounded during the escape but manages to drive the the Americans to an airfield. She dies, but the two American pilots and the scientist make good their escape in a pair of North Korean [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15|MiG-15]] jet fighters. However Clairborn deliberately crashes his plane into a attacking Korean fighter being unable to discover how to fire the Mig's guns.

* [[James Dobson (actor)|James Dobson]] as Lt. Sandy Wilkerson

* [[Leonard Strong (actor)|Leonard Strong]] as Maj. Wan

''Jet Attack'' relied heavily on "stock war footage and studio shots".<ref>Pendo 1985, p. 237.</ref> The mismatched footage led to unintended continuity errors.{{#tag:ref|In the film, during the attack scene, a [[North American B-25 Mitchell]] bomber inexplictedly turns into a [[DouglasMartin CB-4726 SkytrainMarauder]]. transport aircraft.|group=Note}}<ref name="Aeromovies">Santoir, Christian. [http://www.aeromovies.fr/articles.php?lng=en&pg=765 "Jet Attack".] ''Aeromovies''. Retrieved: March 16, 2015.</ref> [[California Air National Guard]] [[North American F-86 Sabre|North American F-86A Sabre]]s from the [[196th Fighter Interceptor Squadron]] stood in for both USAF and North Korean fighters.<ref name="Aeromovies"/>

[[American International Pictures]] released ''Jet Attack'' as a [[double feature]] with ''[[Suicide Battalion]]''. Like many other films of the period that were set in the Korean War, film historian Michael Paris considered it another of the "... features that had little to say that was new; most simply reprised situations common from earlier films and were a blatant attempt to profit from public interest in the war."<ref>Paris 1995, p. 189.</ref>

* Paris, Michael. ''From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema.'' Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995. {{ISBN |978-0-7190-4074-0}}.

* Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. {{ISBN |0-8-1081-746-2}}.

* {{tcmdbTCMDb title|79748|Jet Attack}}

[[Category:1950s1958 war films]]

[[Category:BlackAmerican black-and-white films]]

[[Category:Films directed by Edward L. Cahn]]