Parachute Battalion

RKO was one of the last studios to realize war was imminent but finally caught up with the Hollywood propaganda films six months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This is a simplistic story about a group of Army trainees preparing for a parachute corps. Preston is an egotistical football hero who takes to jumping easily, O'Brien is the coward who learns to change his ways, and Ebsen provides comic relief. Kelly is the romantic interest who finds her affections wavering between O'Brien and Preston. The real star of this film is the parachute footage. This was made with the cooperation of the 501st Parachute Battalion at Fort Benning, Georgia, which performed all t...