User Reviews

Newly-minted LT Jimmy Stewart gives a folksy appeal to guys from 18 to 26 to join up and fight the axis!

Jimmy would go on to make an admirable career in the Air Force Reserve and become the recognizable face of the Strategic Air Command in the 1950's--- here you can get a first glimpse of this enthusiasm. Winning Your Wings is aimed at recruiting officers--- more specifically at what must have been hordes of guys with the qualities but not necessarily the educational credentials to make the cut. Don ("Hazel") Defore does a bit as a 26-year old married gas station jockey who's not sure he's qualified. There's a run down of what must have been virtually unknown commissioned positions (navigators, meteorologists) and a run down of the 9-man crew of a B-17, all framed within Stewart's likable homespun drawl. Look for a nearly unrecognizable Peter Graves in the Flying Fortress. And go for Captain, they knock down $450 a month!

I was lucky enough to get to see this recruiting film on TCM this morning with James Stewart this morning. Before going off to Europe and flying several bombing missions over Axis territory in the next four years, Stewart stopped by Warner Brothers long enough to make this recruitment film.

What's ironic here is that those who didn't take to the skies and became infantrymen would have nothing, but derision for films like these. Despite the contributions of the Army Air Corps which were certainly real enough, those who weren't in that service felt these guys got all the glamor. You can see that idea running through any number of war films.

Still it was interesting to see such folks as Charles Drake, Peter Graves, Don DeFore and Ray Montgomery before they became recognizable civilian actors.

James Stewart had three loves in his life, Gloria, acting, and flying and this was I'm sure a labor of love for him.

During World War 2, the US government was responsible for producing many films that would be categorized as propaganda in order to inspire people from all over America to answer the call of their homeland. While the term "propaganda" is typically used to describe rousing posters or films utilized by less reputable regimes (such as the Nazis), this film can't really be construed as anything but. It even has a few lies in it to make america look more powerful than it really was back then. The film starts with a trainer aircraft piloted by Jimmy Stewart landing at an airbase. He climbs out and starts explaining how the Army Air Forces (formerly the Army Air Corps) has been busy recruiting americans so that they can put this extremely destructive war to an end as fast as possible. He says how people in his time period are living through the greatest mobilization of people in the entire history of the world. Men and women from all occupations, from every corner of the US leave their old lives behind and sign up for a new one in the armed forces. Stewart says how even those currently in college are technically allowed to drop out and join the military, even if they don't have a degree yet. The military on the other hand actually wants students to earn degrees as various skills will come in handy depending on what your job in the army is going to be. Not just this, but people can also join the Air Force Reserve, allowing them to work towards their diplomas (and upon completing the term) enter the air force as the first rank of commissioned officer (Second Lieutenant). The film then goes on to say how in large planes such as the workhorse Boeing B-17, each person inside has a specific role, and they all need to work together in order to accomplish their objectives and make sure they're brought home safely. Obviously the pilot and copilot don't need an introduction for what they do, but the navigator, an often overlooked position, is just as critical. The navigator is responsible for plotting the course of the plane while it's in flight and making sure it doesn't get lost. The bombardier is essentially the sniper of the air, and is responsible for dropping high explosive ordinance from miles up onto targets with unerring precision. The plane also has engineers who are working tirelessly to ensure every mechanical device in the aircraft is not going out of order. The plane has men on the ground working to keep it airborne as well. Back at base, the plane's bomb load is supervised by a guy (who has most likely taken a class on engineering) called an armaments officer. His job is to make sure all the bombs are loaded into the plane correctly, as well as the belts of ammo for each one of its machine guns. The air force even has a need for meteorologists. The film ends with an inspiring monologue from Stewart, saying how america's factories are going into overdrive and building about 100 thousand planes a year so we can beat the Axis (which is just plain nonsense). Given that John Huston directed this, I'm tempted to give it a high rating since he was actually involved in ww2 (as was Stewart). However, like most other second world war shorts, this one feels done to death for me. It's decent for what it is, but if you're like me and have dozens of books on this particular conflict, you won't find much here that's unknown to you. I mostly watched this to acquaint myself with an important moment in film history, as Stewart got upwards of 150 thousand people to enlist because of this film.

Wonderful curio for WWII buffs, aviation buffs, and Jimmy Stewart fans. It's a recruitment film for the U.S. Army Air Forces. There are various young men presented who want to serve but have questions. Stewart answers their questions and provides info about the Air Forces. And yes, it was called Air Forces back then before the 's' was dropped in 1947. There's a lot of interesting information here about the process in joining the AAF and learning to fly. Also of interest to film buffs, this marks the one time that John Huston and Jimmy Stewart worked together. Very cool.

One final note over a comment I read that got under my skin. There is nothing about this that needs to be "excused." No one needs to explain, justify, rationalize, and certainly not apologize for serving their country and encouraging others to do the same. Not in peacetime and definitely not in wartime.

Before I checked on IMDb, I had completely forgotten John Huston's contribution here – since no director is listed during the opening titles – though I was well aware of James Stewart's participation (oddly enough, this was their sole collaboration)! Anyway, this is typical – and, in retrospect, pretty efficient – 'recruiting poster' stuff (yet another Oscar-nominated documentary, in a category that had a staggering 25 candidates and emerged with a quartet of winners!), with the star delineating the pros (but, obviously none of the cons!) should American youths join the Air Force. For the record, the attack on Pearl Harbour was a very recent memory – and, watching this, we realize just how far the Government went in order to induct pilots, bombardiers, navigators, etc. to fill the thousands upon thousands of planes of various sizes that would be employed in the war effort! Stewart is the right sort of average guy to make such a notion seem appealing, even "adventurous" – but the jingoism is excusable under the circumstances, as the prospective officers are either credited with their college-bred specialization (which would thus be put at the nation's disposal) or given the opportunity to acquire one for those that had been left lagging behind in education…which suggests that combat duty was very much seen as a level 'playing-field'!

With the US launched into World War II, Hollywood began working with the armed forces to get people to join. An example is John Huston's Academy Award-nominated "Winning Your Wings", featuring Jimmy Stewart talking about the Air Force, the enlistment process, and who all participates in operating the planes.

Obviously the sheer level of propaganda comes across as corny nowadays, especially with the archaic gender relations. My favorite propaganda shorts from the era were the cartoons portraying Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck battling Nazis (not surprisingly, many of them got pulled from circulation after the war).

Anyway, this short works well as a time capsule. Entertaining, if nothing else.

This is a very fascinating curio from WWII starring Jimmy Stewart. This is an Army Air Corps recruitment short in which Stewart, after a year in the service, addresses the public to sell them on joining. The film is briskly paced, interesting to watch and has a lot of great footage of aircraft (particularly interesting to airplane aficionados are the early B-17 A and B versions--pretty rare to see this footage). While I doubt if this film would excite most kids, it is a great film historically. Plus, it is one of the few films Stewart made exploiting his service, as he tended to downplay this and few people actually knew that he eventually retired a Brigadeer General after many years of service.

By the way, one of the young guys in the film that was thrilled about joining up had a girlfriend that looks like Judy Garland. It's not--I checked and it's Juanita Stark. They could have been sisters!

Jimmy Stewart appears in one of the many Warner Brothers' short subjects hyping the Army Air Corps. Stewart uses his casual charm and his stage training to hype the Force, and talks about training, and how women love a pilot. It's all done in good humor, and makes it seem like a lot of fun, with no risk mentioned and $400 a month, with room and board!

Stewart had been drafted into the Army as a private in 1940; since he was already a pilot, he was assigned to the Air Corps --after being rejected twice as underweight -- first as an instructor, then on combat missions in Europe. He left the War a Colonel, and as a Reserve officer, retired with the rank of Brigadier General.

James Stewart is absolutely charming as "Wild Blue Yonder" plays and he taxis up the run-way and hops out of a B17 bomber in uniform complete with wings. He is the sole voice of this 20 minute short from 1942 about why young men should sign up for the Army Air Corps ASAP. He talks to actors portraying college students, high school students, men who didn't finish their college degrees, and an average Joe working at a gas station.

Stewart tells all of these guys that their stations in life - no college, some college, waiting to get out of college - is no bar to getting into the Army Air Corps. But he does mention that business of getting your name pulled out of a fish bowl - aka "drafted" - as a kind of added incentive to join up. One surprising fact - that in this "greatest mass mobilization in history" you could join the Air Corps and finish your degree as a reservist, then become a regular airman.

The short shows much of how America wanted to see itself in 1942 - Stewart shows a dramatization of a young man who just signed up leaving home. He says goodbye to his parents, his aunt, his sister, and "that sweet young thing" next door. Hey, did we just segue into an Andy Hardy film? Nope, the airman to be is too tall to be Mickey Rooney.

Stewart then goes into detail about the jobs that must be done on the ground and in the air to keep 'em flying. On board the plane - radio man, engineer, navigator, bombardier, photographer. He mentions that all get their wings, and all are an important part of a team. This is probably to not get the recruit's hopes up that he will be a pilot.

Stewart was a great salesman for joining up. After all, a tremendously popular actor in 1941, he quit his movie career to join the Army Air Corps himself, having to practically make himself ill eating pound cake and drinking milk so he would meet the minimum weight for enlisting. He retired as a brigadier general in 1968.

This is worth your time to see the tremendous charm of James Stewart and how his love for the Air Corps comes shining through, and as a bit of history on what the Air Corps looked like at the beginning of WWII.

I was lucky enough to see this short on TCM. It was broadcast on Memorial Day 2014. As a"Boomer", I knew lots of WWII stories from the adults in my young life. My father was in the U.S. Navy. Jimmy Stewart was a great patriot, as were most actors, performers, sports figures and celebrities during this troubled time for our nation.Watching this short gives great insight into the mindset of a nation hell bent on victory. A collective resolve that I am afraid this nation will never again experience and I hope never again for the same reasons. Footage of the manufacturing facilities was extremely fascinating to me. The salaries quoted by Jimmy Stewart amazed me! $450.00 a month would have been highly desirable in 1942! My dad was making only $75 a week 10 years after this film was produced! This great little film left me a little swimmy eyed..! A must see short.

As with most short or documentary films, "Winning Your Wings" doesn't have a plot that might be divulged. But, these comments will provide some of the information from this short for those who may be interested but not able to find this film to watch. I also give some background information on Jimmy Stewart's military service, and on the pay amounts during World War II.

While he didn't do any Hollywood movies during the war, James Stewart did star in one short featurette. He made this recruiting film in May 1942. It was a joint project of the Army Air Forces and Warner Brothers. Stewart was a lieutenant in the Air Forces at the time. The Air Forces then badly needed more men to train as pilots and for other aviation positions. So, a group of Hollywood people serving on active duty was put together to make this recruiting film.

John Huston was a captain in the Army Signal Corps at the time, and was making films for the Army. He directed "Winning Your Wings." Stewart got the lead role. He plays himself as an Army Air Forces pilot. An opening scene shows planes flying, landing and then Stewart getting out of the cockpit of a plane. He narrates the rest of the film with various film clips. A number of actors appear in the film as civilians in high school, college, or at work. Only a few have a line or two. Those include Don DeFore, Charles Drake, Harry Lewis and Ray Montgomery.

The U.S. had only been in the war five months when this film was made. The Air Forces were in dire need of trained pilots and other aviation positions. Stewart gives some interesting figures. He said the U.S. was producing 65,000 fighter planes this year (1942) and 100,000 next year. That will require two million men to keep them flying. "It takes 38 men on the ground to keep a B-17 bomber in the air," Stewart says. The film touches on the ground support, but its main emphasis and appeal is for men to man the bombers.

Stewart says that the Army Air Forces need 15,000 captains, 40,000 lieutenants and 35,000 flying sergeants. He gives some pay figures, and says that a 2nd Lieutenant earns $245 per month. Most 2nd Lieutenants in the Army were then receiving $150 per month. The only ones at $245 were officers on flight status and airborne officers. The differences were flight pay and jump pay. So, again, that amount applied only to the officers who served as pilots, co-pilots, bombardiers and navigators. Stewart says that captains are paid $430 per month. Again, that's for officers on flight status. Most captains – those who were not flyers or paratroopers, were paid $350 per month.

Toward the end of the film, Stewart says, "By the time you finish your training, America will have overwhelming superiority in the air." This recruiting film was highly successful and apparently resulted in some 150,000 enlistments for flying positions. Some sources regard this film as propaganda (i.e., Wikipedia on 26 December 2016). The primary distinction of propaganda is its attempt to influence people's opinion (Cambridge dictionary). If this film is propaganda, then every public service or private or other project that tries to get people to pursue a medical field, educational career, or and other profession must also be propaganda. I think most people can clearly distinguish job, professional or career recruiting films from propaganda.

Jimmy Stewart is very good, as are all those with small parts. This featurette is well done and received an Academy Award nomination for best short in 1946.

Stewart's last movie before the start of World War II was "Ziegfeld Girl" that came out on April 25, 1941. His first movie after the war was "It's a Wonderful Life" that came out in December 1946. During those 5.5 years between, Stewart's Hollywood career was on hold while he served in the U.S. Army Air Forces.

Stewart entered the Army in March 1941 as a private, although he had more than 400 hours of flying time before the war. He applied for aviation and was accepted as a 2nd Lieutenant. At the end of the war, he held the rank of Colonel. His rise from private to colonel in just four years is a record that no one is likely to repeat or beat. Because of his experience, Stewart's first assignments were in flight instruction. But, by 1943 he was assigned to American Air Force units in Europe. He flew 20 combat missions in Europe as a bomber pilot, and held various command positions. He stayed in the reserves after the war, and served an active stint during the Vietnam War. He retired in 1968 as a general. He has another record as the movie actor to reach the highest rank in military service.