Movie Monday Review: Mosquito Squadron

Flight Commander Quint Munroe

Mosquito Squadron (1969)

Starring: David McCallum, Suzanne Neve, Charles Gray, David Buck, and Lord David Dundas

Summary

WWII RAF pilot, Flight Leader Quint Munroe (David McCallum) and adopted brother Flight Leader Davis Scott (David Buck), along with their Squadron of Mosquitos are sent on dangerous missions to bomb the Nazi V1 Buzz Bomb launching locations. Quint and “Scotty” were raised together by Scotty’s parents and have been through everything together. On one particular mission, Scotty and his plane-partner crash, presumably dying instantly in flames. Quint doesn’t know what to do. His brother is dead and he is now a very shocked commanding officer of the rest of the Squadron being chased by Messerschmitts. Returning home, his Flight Commander (Charles Gray) asks Quint not only to tell his parents the devastating news, but to also tell Scotty’s wife, Beth (Suzanne Neve). Solemnly agreeing, Quint heads to Beth’s house. Upon arriving, his heartbroken look is enough to tell her that she is now a widow. Her brother, Doug (Lord David Dundas), wonders what Quint could have said to her. Quint, still quite heartbroken, responds that maybe Doug should do something with his life instead of moping around because he lost his arm in a flight. Scotty would gladly trade places with him, Quint says.

A heartbroken Quint looking at Beth

Quint is now leading the Squadron and being sent on more dangerous missions. Coming back from a reconnaissance mission and crash landing, his plane on fire, he barely gets out alive. His partner dead, he goes to Scotty’s old room to think and sleep. While he’s resting, Beth comes to Scotty’s room to retrieve his things. She and Quint share a moment, remembering Scotty and sharing each other’s grief. She recalls the life they had together and how the three of them used to do everything with each other. Beth is somewhat surprised to find out that Scotty “stole” her from Quint at one point and they have a laugh about it. The mood is broken when she sees Quint’s burnt up pilot jacket and realizes that he too may not come back some day. Slowly, they get closer to each other, but consistently, Quint is nervous about it, feeling like he’s somehow cheating on his dead brother by learning to love Beth.

An exhausted Quint

The British High Command soon come to the Mosquito Squadron to announce a new mission…to bomb a chateau in France that’s being used as a V1 factory in underground tunnels. The Squadron’s job, to learn to use a new type of spinning bomb, acting like a bowling ball. They are to launch them from their planes with such accuracy that the spinning bomb rolls down the tunnels. Quint sees this as nearly impossible, but is willing to try. Nevertheless, he and his team are given less than two weeks to train, as intelligence says the Nazi’s will be moving things out soon after.

Quint and Beth are enjoying each other’s company, sharing each other’s grief and helping each other and her brother Doug to move on in life. Doug is now engaged and has decided to take Quint’s advice and get a prosthetic arm. He takes an assignment on base and begins to live life in a more positive way.

Beth and Quint – Just friends

Training commences and intelligence rolls in. Soon, they find out that the Nazi’s have discovered the British plan to bomb their secret factory. To counteract this, the Nazi’s move dozens of British POWs into the castle portion of the chateau and send film footage of it to the British. Quint watches in horror, realizing that the very place they are supposed to bomb is filled with some of his own friends. With greater shock and surprise, he discovers that one of the prisoners is his very much alive brother, Scotty. The British High Command order Quint and Doug not to say a word and tell them the mission will go on as planned without question due to the importance of stopping these V1 bombs from being made.

Quint after a Nazi attack

Quint is heartbroken. The thought of killing his own brother and Beth’s husband hurts him hard. When Doug suggests they tell Beth, Quint, with tears in his eyes, exclaims

“Which one of us will tell her that he died twice?”

Doug is saddened too and decides to go in for a drink. After getting quite drunk, he tells the whole Squadron about the situation (against direct orders) and is confined to quarters. Now the whole Squadron is worried about the idea of bombing their friends. Quint pulls away from Beth, feeling confused as to what to do.

A heartbroken Doug

Not willing to do such a mission, Quint figures out a plan that will help the prisoners escape as well as destroy the factory. Finally, the British High Command decide to go along with it, telling Quint, however, that several more bombers will be coming to bomb the actual chateau right after their mission is completed. With the help of  the French Underground, the Mosquito Squadron will go in, bomb the underground tunnels, leaving a bomb to destroy the wall, allowing the prisoners to get out. The Underground will send word in to make sure the prisoners are all in the chapel.

Here’s the plan…

The mission, underway, they have bad luck in getting their bowling ball bombs in the right place and they are running out of time. With two bombs in each of the three planes, they miss several times. Soon, one gets destroyed, leaving only a couple bombs. When a second plane gets hit, the pilot, knowing he won’t survive, tells Quint to go for the wall to save the prisoners, because he will take care of the factory. Crashing his plane into the tunnel, the factory is destroyed. Quint and his partner go for the wall, succeeding, allowing the prisoners to escape with the Underground. Then, Quint’s plane is hit and, upon crash landing, they find themselves running for their lives alongside the prisoners and Underground agents.

A wounded Scotty

The British bombers appear, completely destroying the chateau. However, there is a tank that is after the prisoners on the ground. The Underground tries to get rid of it, but to no success. Quint gets hit in the leg soon after his partner has been killed. He finds himself next to a very dazed and amnesia-stricken Scotty. Trying to convince Scotty to stay safe, to remember his own brother and his wife, Quint has no success. Scotty is convinced that he must destroy the tank and heads off, despite pleas from Quint to stay back. Very bravely, Scotty arms himself with a bazooka and stands in front of the tank, completely destroying it and himself…right after remembering Beth. Quint is heartbroken again, but gets to safety and is taken home.

Now wounded, Quint finds his brother Scotty

The only survivor of the Squadron, he returns with the other prisoners. Praised for his successes by the British High Command, he sees it as a great loss. Doug meets him, inquiring after Scotty, he sees the grief in Quint’s eyes. Beth comes to him, willing to face what may come. The two will help each other through the rest of the war.

Review

An interesting perspective on the life of an RAF pilot during WWII as well as a look into the lives of family members. At one point, Beth tells Quint that wives begin to understand the importance of time and recalls how one woman lost her pilot husband and then remarried another pilot only weeks after. Beth at first saw this as a callous heart, until the second husband also died. RAF piloting was dangerous and they understood this.

Quint with his partners

We also see the desperate feelings of the British High Command who were willing to stop at nothing to keep the Nazi’s from destroying them. A very sad state of affairs.

One of the most beautiful film scores ever to be found, the music sores with the planes and is heart-touching during pivotal moments. Excellently done.

Beth and Quint upon his return

A movie worth watching. There are a few instances of bad language to watch for, but overall is clean.

Ellen Nolan

#MovieMonday #Reviews