For those who may be interested, I wrote a 4 page review of MISSION OVER KOREA about a year ago for the L-5 NEWSLETTER (which I publish). There's more here than you could ever want to know about the film, but movie buffs may enjoy reading it. You may download it here:
http://web.mawebcenters.com/sopa/downloads.ivnu
MISSION OVER KOREA is as B as B movies get but it's great for the flying scenes if nothing else. I actually like the whole thing for its "cheapness" and it is fun to pick apart. I love the fight scene with the "Communist Insurgents" dressed like gangsters. Obvious movie fakery includes the P-51 "Yaks", but if you watch closely you can find all kinds of subtle discrepancies, such as the L-5 observer model with the same tail number as an L-5G ambulance model...the former being filmed on location in Korea and the latter in California. Ostensibly the same plane in the story line, the director probably didn't think most people in the audience would notice the substitution.
Although almost half the film contains flying scenes or static views of aircraft, you'll eventually notice that there are really only a few flying sequences and they were filmed from a half-dozen angles. By alternating camera angles the footage replayed throughout the movie gives the impression that they were different scenes. They also destroyed at least 2 planes for the movie (was that a real crash, or a studio "crash?) but two of the planes still exist and are owned by L-5 club members. One of these was actually filmed on location in Korea.
As for getting copies of the movie, they pop up on eBay at least once a month. I even found a bootleg DVD copy of it and there are some neat collectibles in the way of posters and set photos if you're into that sort of thing.
Cheers,
Jim
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