ClassyWas Excellent, smart action film.

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

ferbs54 Though little remembered today and garnering only the briefest of mentions in Gene Tierney's own "Self-Portrait" autobiography, 1942's "Thunder Birds," the actress' ninth film, is assuredly deserving of a greater renown. In this one, Gene plays Kay Saunders, the granddaughter of an Arizona ranch owner whose property is adjacent to the U.S. Army flying school known as Thunderbird Field (at which the picture was partially filmed). Kay's life itself is thrown up in the air when her old flame, flying ace Steve Britt (played with an appealing mix of heart and toughness by Preston Foster), decides to become a civilian instructor at the school. It is made even more problematic when she falls in love with Peter Stackhouse (hunky John Sutton, who had been featured in Gene's second film, "Hudson's Bay"), a British doctor with a fear of heights who is determined to become a pilot under Britt's instruction. Thus, the "eternal triangle" is formed again, while Stackhouse learns that it might be easier to master his Stearman PT-17 biwing than his own physical and emotional responses....Very much a product of its time and surely a live-action poster ad for our brave young men who would one day win WW2 for the Allies (although, back in 1942, that outcome, it must be remembered, was far from certain), "Thunder Birds" yet offers some very real pleasures for the audience of today. Shot in supersaturated Technicolor, the film looks marvelous, and features some truly eye-popping aerial cinematography. William A. Wellman, a veteran of WW1's Lafayette Escadrille who would go on to become a stunt pilot before embarking on a filmmaking career, was of course the perfect director to bring this film in for a safe landing. He had previously worked on such high-flying adventures as 1927's "Wings" (the first Oscar winner for Best Picture) and the almost-impossible-to-see "Central Airport," and would go on to direct the John Wayne pictures "Island in the Sky" and "The High and the Mighty," as well as his final film, 1958's "Lafayette Escadrille" (AND, parenthetically, the 1948 Tierney vehicle "The Iron Curtain"). Besides the eye-popping nature of the aerial cinematography, "Thunder Birds" features still another eye-popping aspect, and that is Gene Tierney herself, who has rarely looked more beautiful on screen. Gene made 20 films in the 1940s, and of those 20, only five were in color: "The Return of Frank James" (her first), "Belle Starr," "Thunder Birds," "Heaven Can Wait" and "Leave Her to Heaven," and other than "Leave Her to Heaven" (in which, gorgeous as she is, she is yet eclipsed, IMHO, by the vision that is Jeanne Crain), I have never seen her look more ravishing than here. Just look at her bathing in an outdoor water tank, her mouth still painted with bright-red lipstick; simply stunning! And Wellman, wisely, gives the 22-year-old Tierney any number of luminous close-ups; absolute heaven for all fans of the beloved actress. Throw in a compact story line (the whole film runs only 78 minutes) and fine supporting work from such wonderful character actors as Dame May Witty, Jack Holt, Richard Haydn and Reginald Denny and you've got yourself quite an entertaining package indeed; surely more than just some rah-rah wartime propaganda! This is a highly entertaining, time-capsule tribute to some very brave young men as well as to the beauty and talent of one very special actress: Miss Gene Tierney.

pzanardo "Thunder Birds" is an innocuous movie of war propaganda, made by W.A. Wellmann, a first- rate director, with his usual professionalism. The locations are beautiful, the Technicolor is outstanding, and the flying scenes are accurately shot. The story is standard, a nice blend of adventure-action and comedy, with some good emotional scenes in the part placed in England, dominated by Dame May Witty. What makes "Thunder Birds" special, and its message stronger, is the use of Gene Tierney as a symbol. Yes, she is called to represent exactly "what we fight for". We (the young men from America, Great Britain, China) fight for that dream of a girl, for her smile, for the hot dogs we devour with her, for her nylon stockings, for our freedom and prosperity that she embodies. And she doesn't leave us alone, like a damned arrogant European princess. She helps and supports us, with a merry smile and without any conceit. Here, among us, there's no room for the gruesome death-rhetoric of the barbarian killers we fight.To be honest, I admit that anyone out of the mass of splendid American actresses of the 1940s could play the role of Gene Tierney in "Thunder Birds", with excellent results. But only with the Goddess of Beauty, shining on the screen, all the parameters go to infinity.

J. Spurlin A veteran American flyer (Preston Foster) trains new recruits, including the acrophobic son (John Sutton) of his dead war buddy. Complications arise when the younger man falls in love with his mentor's girl (Gene Tierney).This propaganda piece, with a hackneyed love triangle, contains one bad scene: at a Red Cross station, where nurses are being trained, we get some dull slapstick and an unchivalrous attempt to make an unattractive girl the butt of several jokes. Everything else works well enough. The acting is solid, the color is gorgeous and the aviation scenes are impressive. A nice flashback scene features Dame May Witty, as Sutton's grandmother, strutting her stoic English stuff. The main reason to watch this is for Gene Tierney, who is as beautiful and charming as ever.

Neil Doyle THUNDER BIRDS only gets a "6" from me because of its brilliant Technicolor photography, which looks marvelous on the print TCM is showing. Otherwise, I'd rank it much lower, even though it stars GENE TIERNEY, PRESTON FOSTER and JOHN SUTTON.Ironically, as long as it stays in the air, it's on firm ground. The minute the planes land, the routine story does nothing but get nowhere for seventy-eight minutes.There are a few compensations. One of them is Tierney looking stunning in all of her Technicolor close-ups. The other is the pleasure of seeing PRESTON FOSTER and JOHN SUTTON get more screen time than usual as the men she has to choose between. Unfortunately, all three of them have one-dimensional roles that any routine actor could play and none of them deliver anything special in the acting department.Under William A. Wellman's direction, it's the spectacular aerial photography that stands out. He's unable to do anything with the trite happenings on the ground, given the poor quality of the script.Trivia notes: When Sutton talks about his grandfather, he pulls out an old photo of director William Wellman wearing pilot gear.The background score depends heavily on "There Will Never Be Another You" from the Sonja Henie/John Payne film ICELAND produced by Fox the same year, this time used only as orchestral music.