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Flying Tiger films, past and possible

• I sold the screen rights to The Lady and the Tigers, and a would-be producer and two screenwriters developed a script based on Olga Greenlaw's life. This project now seems in limbo. (Note that there's another script—such as it is—featuring Olga among the AVGs. Click here for a look at it.)

• Morgan Creek International in 2001 had an active project entitled Flying Tigers. (Morgan Creek is a subsidiary of Warner Brothers.) I've been told that it went as far as the mockup of a bunch of Tomahawks, which are now in storage in California somewhere. Filings in the U.S. Copyright Office show that the screenwriters were John Rogers for Morgan Creek, Joe Bateer for Stone Cutter Films and Morgan Creek, Tedi Sarafian for Sarafian Film and Morgan Creek, Pen Densham and John Watson for Columbia Pictures (quitclaimed to Morgan Creek). One fanzine on the web suggested that this was a remake of the 1942 John Wayne epic. Says another: "Just to show how long this project has been in development, it was almost filmed in 1995, starring Matthew McConaughey, before he became a star.... It's likely the final cast will likewise consist of a bunch of young guys who aren't quite stars yet, along with an older actor playing AVG leader Claire Chennault." Filming was originally scheduled to take place in California and Mexico, but later was shifted to Australia. It's still shown as active on the Morgan Creek website, with the screenwriter named as David Ward.

• There was quite a serious effort to make a Chennault film in the 1990s. It had major backers and a title something like Earth, Wind, and Fire. Supposedly it was based on the Chennault-Bissell feud. I found some references to this effort on the web, but they have since disappeared. The sponsoring company was Paramount.

• Wayne Adams Barker recorded a screenplay titled Flying Tigers Never Say Die in 1994

• About 1992, a Chinese friend told me that she had been hired to work on the script of a Taiwanese film involving the love affair between a beautiful Chinese girl and a gallant Flying Tiger named Johnny Blackstone. It was, she said, a perfectly dreadful script, and she soon went to work in China for the Disney Panda epic. I named one of the heroes of my novel Remains in honor of this project.

• Lewis Productions, Inc. and Embassy Productions, Inc. recorded a Flying Tigers screenplay in 1984.

Already filmed:

• The Flying Tigers (Republic, 1942). Here is the classic, a Republic "B" flick starring John Wayne in a hilariously wrong-headed account of the American Volunteer Group. Nice shots of small-mouthed P-40s (filmed at the Curtiss factory with repainted fighters not yet delivered to the USAAF) and fixed-gear Nakajima Ki-27s (taken from a Japanese film). The very odd bomber is the the only Capelis XC-12 'Safety Aircraft Transport' built. The movie ends with the lads hearing about the attack on Pearl Harbor, which of course took place nearly two weeks before the AVG ever fired a shot in anger. Paul Kelly played pilot Hap Smith and Jimmy Dodd played pilot "Mac" McIntosh. The screenwriter, Samuel Ornitz was one of the "Hollywood Ten," blacklisted in the 1950s. Two "dishonorably discharged" AVG clerks had something to do with this project. Current videotape version is colorized. Available at Amazon on DVD disk as well as used copies on VHS tape. Also available at Historic Aviation on DVD disk.

• The Sky's the Limit (RKO, 1942). Two AVG pilots on a spree walk the sidewalks of New York in a musical comedy starring Fred Astaire. P-40 mock-ups, stock-footage, models. AVG veteran R. T. Smith was technical adviser on this. Available at Amazon on VHS tape

• God Is My Co-pilot (1943). Dennis Morgan and Raymond Massey star. Strictly speaking, not about the AVG at all, since it was based on Scott's best-selling account of how he came to be commander of the 23rd Fighter Group. But if you're not fussy about how you define "Flying Tiger film," this is the best of the lot, and one of the better aviation movies filmed during WWII. Filmed at Luke AAF Aux. Field #7. Curtiss P-40F's from 554 FTS Luke, B-25C/D/G Mitchells from 952 TS, AT-6's dressed up as Zeros, and a Republic P-43 Lancer. One AT-6 glanced off a B-25 during filming of the final mass air scene, killing at least one pilot. Used copies may be available at Amazon on VHS tape

• Hers to Hold (1943). An AVG pilot (Joseph Cotton) falls in love with a B-17 assembly worker (Deanna Durban).

• China's Little Devils (1945). Harry Carey and Paul Kelly as two AVG Flying Tiger pilots befriending Chinese orphans. P-40 mock-ups, footage from the John Wayne film.