Tremendous film. Even though it lasts twenty minutes or so, you'll never forget it once you've seen it. Some of the most spectacular live-action battle sequences ever. The finest collection of kamikaze attack footage out there. The film is well narrated and masterfully edited, with a powerful, dynamic sound track. "The Fleet That Came To Stay" was originally released as a war bond drive film in black and white. I was fortunate enough to inherit a good quality 16mm original print, so am very familiar with it. There are several unforgettable sequences, particularly one scene where a bomb tears loose from a plane making a "deck trap" on an aircraft carrier, bounces along the runway past several groups of military personnel without exploding and finally falls over the edge of the boat. Unbelievable! The film also mentions staggering "shot down" statistics as part of the narrative. The final scene before "The End" and "Please buy war bonds..." will burn itself into your memory! My print is the only one I've ever seen; that is, I've never come across a VHS video or DVD copy anywhere. Too bad. It is possible a negative or print may have been preserved in the National Archives. Check it out if you're interested in obtaining a copy of this historic film.

No pun intended - I am not sure if this is relevant to anyone right now. Hopefully it will never be. On the other hand, it is quite the curious look on war and how to ... well do it, I reckon one could say. Naval combat in particular. This may have been done for troops and their morale - I would not be surprised at all. This was a bonus on a disc - the director went on to become more popular for his western movies outputs ... but he also did a lot of other stuff. This being one amongst them all.

It is short and anything but sweet. But it is also a testament of its time. And the way of thinking I guess you could say. If you are interested in the subject matter, certainly worth a look ... otherwise ... well probably not.