God Is My Co-Pilot

I've always liked airplanes -- and airplane movies. I watched this movie many times as a kid -- often fuzzy prints on the primitive (by today's standards) televisions. I wanted to see a clean copy on my flat screen, and got what I wanted. It's a somewhat true ("Hollywood" after all) story and you have to take into account that it was made during WW2, so the purpose was positive propaganda --the Japanese racial slurs are bad, and of course not acceptable today. You have to watch it in the context of its time. There is a surprising amount of footage of P-40 Warhawks filmed specifically for the movie (and not poor model special effects like the John Wayne movie "Flying Tigers"). The A6M Zeros are represented by AT-6 Trainers -- something that Hollywood would rely upon for many films for years to come. Dennis Morgan as Robert L. Scott is always a friendly and pleasing screen presence, and really nothing at all like the real man. I've read that Bogart was original slated to play the part, and probably closer to reality -- but that Scott's mother objected!

Best video, fantastic.

I enjoyed watching this movie since I was growing up. It's an interesting movie. Thank you for my order.

Great movie, sound quality is off a little but I think that is from the movie itself.

I loved it

Book arrived in great condition, everything I expected.

Movie wasn't as good as I remembered it as a kid. But the DVD is well made and provides a clear picture and great sound not like to old days with the picture static on and old UHF station channel. The story while kind of outlandish is 100% try, there were really good guys that did things just because it was the right thing to do.

I enjoyed it this movie is a true story that took place in China also I like the part area some religious episodes that really make you feel how you are not alone if you believe there is a higher power above should you watch this movie you will understand what I mean by that would highly recommend

It was a good movie with a spiritual message.

I saw this film many years ago and it is an old favourite of mine and my husband, A wonderful cast of actors who really believed the parts they played

I Last Saw This Film On A Series Called The Vintage Years Of Hollywood In 1963. I Have Been Trying To Find It For Fifty Years

This 1945 war propaganda film, telling a true story, is still a quite watchable thing and I think also the best movie about the "Flying Tigers". It was adapted from a best-selling book written in 1943 by a real American fighter ace, Colonel Robert Lee Scott, who described in it his real war time experience in India and in China in 1942, at a time when the issue of the war was still far from being decided.Below, more information about Colonel Scott, as well as more of my impressions about both the book and the film, with some limited SPOILERS.1. Colonel Scott.Robert Lee Scott Jr. (12 April 1908 - 27 February 2006) was born in Waynesboro, Georgia and he graduated from West Point in 1932. He then served successively in US Army Air Corps (1932-1941), US Army Air Forces (1941-47) and United States Air Force (1947-1957), reaching ultimately the rank of Brigadier General.During his early years in service he flew air mail, commanded a fighter squadron in Panama and was an instructor. In 1941, immediately after Pearl Harbour, he asked for an assignment to a fighter squadron - but was told he was already too aged...Unwilling to stay an instructor when others were fighting he volunteered to fly B-17 heavy bombers from USA to Burma (via Caribbean, Brazil, Africa, Middle East and India). Once this mission finished he was affected to transport missions, flying from Assam over Himalayas to China, carrying all kind of cargo possible and imaginable.Finally, in June 1942, Scott got his dreamed assignment - together with promotion to colonel he received the command of USAAF 23 Fighter Group, which operated in China and was the successor of the famous 1st American Volunteer Group of Chinese Air Force, better known as "Flying Tigers". As commander of this unit Scott flew 388 combat missions in 925 hours from July 1942 to October 1943, shooting down 13 Japanese aircraft to become one of America's earliest flying aces of the war.Recalled to USA in October 1943 Scott served for a time at the Army Air Force School of Applied Tactics at Orlando Army Air Base, Florida. He returned to China in 1944 to fly fighter-bomber aircraft specialised in ground attacks, especially with rockets. In summer 1945 his unit was transferred to Okinawa from which its planes led strikes against enemy coastal shipping until the end of war.Scott continued a distinguished career after the war and reached the rank of Brigadier General. He retired in 1957. He continued flying as a civilian and USAF also invited him occasionally to fly modern planes, for public relations operations. In 1984 he flew a General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon jet fighter, in 1995 a McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle and on his 89th birthday (!) in 1997, Scott piloted the enormous super-modern bomber B-1B Lancer.He was also author of twelve books, of which this one, written in 1943, is the most known - and also is the only one to be made into a movie (at least until now). Retired general Scott died in 2006, at greatly advanced age of 97.2. The book "God is my co-pilot"Published in 1943, the book describes Scott's life from his early childhood to the end of 1942. It was written when the war still raged and the issue was still not certain - and this critical situation on all fronts can be well felt through the pages...In the book Scott wrote that he was clearly BORN to fly planes and especially fighter planes. He admits that this was everything he wanted from life even as a little boy and with time this passion grew only stronger. He had to work hard and even struggle to make his dream come true, as he had to first get to West Point and then graduate to become a pilot - and neither was an easy task.He enjoyed his peace time career but in 1941 he welcomed war with a kind of guilty pleasure feeling - because even if it was a great tragedy for countless millions of people, for him it was an opportunity to take a modern, powerful warplane into a fight and test his skills against the best pilots and the best planes in the world. But fighting was not the only thing he enjoyed - his description of a lonely expedition on board of an outdated fighter he "borrowed" to fly alone over Mount Everest shows a man simply madly, truly, deeply in love with flying.From his first experiences in Burma-India-China war theatre Scott learned to respect the skills of Japanese pilots and he never underestimated the enemy - but he also hated them passionately for cruelty shown to Chinese civilians and also allied pilots (the Japanese routinely shot pilots who jumped with parachute from their burning planes). In this he was in good company as most American pilots in China shared his feelings. Modern reader can be particularly shocked by one phrase cited by Scott, when a fellow officer, asked if it wouldn't be nice if all the Japanese could be eliminated simultaneously by pressing a button, answered: "No, because it is too much fun killing them slowly, one by one..." Scott also claims in the strongest possible terms that he never lost a moment of sleep over all the Japanese he killed in the airs or when strafing them on the ground.Unlike what the title may suggest, his book contained only few religious tones. Author makes a short allusion to his Christian beliefs, he states also at one moment that considering all the perils he survived he sometimes had the feeling that some greater force watched over him and he concludes his book with a beautiful poem/prayer written by a British RAF pilot John Magee who was killed in Battle of Britain:"Up, up the long delirious burning blueI've topped the wind-swept heights with easy graceWhere never lark, or even eagle, flew,And while with silent, lifting mind I've trodThe high untrespassed sanctity of space,Put out my hand, and touched the face of God"That being said the main reason for the title of this book is, I believe, author's feeling that he fought the good fight, against hateful enemies. The general tone of this book is patriotic and enthusiastic and I think author was sincere when writing it. He was clearly very proud of his Confederate ancestry (for some reason a large majority of American pilots in China, beginning with general Chennault himself, were from South) but even more proud of being an American and his faith in his country's ability to overcome every challenge is overwhelming. After seeing many countries of the world he states in his book loud and clear, that United States created the best society for human beings to live in and that defending this mode of life is worth taking every risk. He also considered that without a shadow of doubt the Japanese and their allies fought for a bad cause.This kind of vision of the world, simple but nevertheless I believe globally sound, is actually a refreshing thing to read - and it certainly helps to better understand those men of the Great Generation, who faced and defeated the Axis alliance.3. The filmPRECISION: this is Region 1 NTSC DVD. It will NOT play on European Region 2 equipment. Also, there is NO subtitles - which makes a couple of lines of dialogs exchanged in the middle of a stoirm hard to understand.The film was made in 1944, when the war in Pacific and China still raged and released on 7 March 1945, when Americans were preparing the invasion of Japan itself - a battle in which it was expected that GIs, Marines, aviators and sailors will suffer colossal losses. Half a million of dead was the MINIMAL estimation for the cost of invasion of Japan - a number far superior to the combined losses suffered by USA on all fronts from December 1941 to March 1945. That actually can explain both the ultrajingoistic but also the very grave tone of the film, especially when showing how terrible were the atrocities inflicted by the Japanese to the Chinese and how brave were the latter in their opposition against such a pitiless foe. The general tone of this film doesn't promise a merry, joyful shootout - it actually states that even if final victory is certain, the road to it will be marked by blood, sweat and tears.Colonel Scott is played very well by Dennis Morgan, a tall, handsome and athletic actor/singer who never made a very big career but from what I could read about him was a rather likeable fellow, who frequently preferred to pass over a role to spend more time with his wife and kids. Quite exceptionnally for Hollywood he married only once and stayed married to his wife Lillian for 61 years, until his death...General Chennault, the commander of "Flying Tigers", is played by Canadian actor Raymond Massey (1896-1983), a quite remarkable character, born into money as he was the grandson of creator and owner of the renowned Massey-Harris Tractor Company. He gave a good account of himself serving in Canadian artillery in France in First World War, but once the war was over he decided to become an actor. He appeared in a lot of well known film, like "Fountainhead", "Arsenic and Old Laces" or "David and Batsheba", albeit always in secondary roles. Here he gives a very good performance as the legendary leader of "Flying Tigers".The film follows the book in great lines, but as it is relatively short (88 minutes) quite a lot had to be left untreated. On another hand some things were added, especially the character of Father "Big Mike" Harrigan, an Irish missionary in China. This priest is important as he teaches to Scott THE PRAYER - one of the most beautiful and most ardent Christian prayers I ever heard. Sorry for the SPOILER here, but I simply cannot resist the temptation to reproduce it here in its integrality, especially considering that it is said in the middle of a storm and can be hard to fully understand (there is no subtitles):"They who had scorned the thought of any strength except their own to lean on,learned at length how fear can sabotage the bravest heart.And human weakness answering to the prod of terror calls, "Help us, O God."And silence lets the silent voice be heard, bringing its message like a spoken word,"BELIEVE, BELIEVE IN ME! CAST OUT YOUR FEAR.OH, I'M NOT UP THERE BEYOND THE SKY, BUT HERE, RIGHT HERE IN YOUR HEART.I AM THE STRENGTH YOU SEEK. BELIEVE! ONLY BELIEVE."This is my purely personal interpretation but I think the reason why this prayer was written and introduced into this film was part of an effort to fortify the resolve of soldiers who were going to invade Japan - and wage what, based on experiences of Tarawa, Saipan, Peleliu and Iwo Jima, was expected to be the most apocalyptic battle in all history... Fortunately for American soldiers, atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki prevented this battle from happening...Other than this mighty prayer, the strongest part of the film are air fighting scenes, exceptionally good for 1945. Many excellent pictures of P-40 fighters, as well as B-25 Mitchell medium bombers and B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers are included.This film is also, I think, the best description of life and fight of "Flying Tigers". It includes a detailed information about their early warning and communication system as well as some humouristic peculiarities of their daily routine...)))Bottom line, this is a quite watchable old war film, certainly made for propaganda purposes, but nevertheless still interesting. I will certainly keep my DVD for a future re-viewing. Recommended to all aviation enthusiasts and to all amateurs of war movies. ENJOY!

This is a classic WWII aviation film which was popular on TV when old movies were cheap to show. Excellent aviation scenes, with Richard Loo getting shot down again with American scrap metal. Texans represent Zeros, as often the case, but the P 40s and B 25s are great....and in what other movie can you see a Republic P 43 Lancer ....ok, you can see one in John Garfield-s classic Air Force, but at least this time it is in Olive Drab .