Rocketeer, The

Despite a lavish budget ($40 million) and plenty of special effects, this science fiction movie never quite gets up the speed indicated by its supercharged hero. The title character (Campbell) is a pilot who gets a new device, courtesy of Howard Hughes, which when strapped on propels him at jet-speed. Since the date is 1938 there are some nasty Nazis who can see the potential for such a device, and one of these, a swashbuckling movie star (Dalton, doing for Errol Flynn what O'Toole did in My Favourite Year), decides to set thugs and an attractive girl on the task. Energetic, but the script is routine.