Let's be realistic.

I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Associate producer: William Jacobs. Copyright 19 September 1942 by Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. A Warner Brothers-First National picture. New York opening at the Palace: 24 September 1942. U.S. release: 18 August 1942. Australian release: 21 February 1946 (sic). 5,403 feet. 58 minutes.SYNOPSIS: A Nazi agent attempts to place a bomb on a bus.NOTES: Film debut of Eleanor Parker . COMMENT: It's hard to believe that this wonderfully suspenseful, well-produced "B" thriller comes from the hand of D. Ross Lederman, not exactly a giant in the art of creative film-making. However, it's been well said that even the lowliest Hollywood hack has the makings of at least one really good movie. And in point of fact, Mr. Lederman has actually brought out at least two (1943's "Adventure in Iraq" is the other contender I have in mind), maybe even three or four. Of course, for this one he did have a tautly solid script to start with, and a really professional cast to enact its interesting characters. Julie Bishop figures both most convincingly yet sympathetically in the lead as the stranded girl, whilst the support players led by Eleanor Parker, Willie Best, George Meeker and the personable Richard Travis, hover around her ingratiatingly. What's even more important is that the plot comes to an all-action climax abetted by skillful editing and first-rate special effects. This is probably a good place to answer a question some readers have been asking me: Why am I including "B" movies in my reviews on IMDb? Such films surely had no chance whatever of earning praise from critics, let alone winning any awards? Wrong! Quite a few "B" movies were nominated for awards and in 1956 "Marty" (a "B" movie if ever there was one) even won Hollywood's major awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Screenplay!

Except for the stereotypical portrayal that Willie Best does in Buses Roar of the misspelled title, the film is a typical wartime propaganda film, just some fodder for the homefront morale. This concerns a rather inept bunch of saboteurs, a joint German-Japanese operation to blow up a bus.This is not a terrorist act per se, the idea is to plant a bomb on a bus and detonate when it's near some undisclosed valuable wartime site. The passengers would be considered collateral damage in today's terms.The film marked Eleanor Parker's feature film debut though she's billed fourth in the cast as a bus ticket agent who has a couple of drivers panting hot and heavy for her. The real stars are Richard Travis and Julie Bishop as a marine on leave and a woman who's hoping to charm the price of a ticket out of San Diego.The saboteurs who are led by Peter Whitney make three different attempts to get the bomb on the bus. Law enforcement isn't to swift either in this comedy of errors.Still the film has a certain charm to it, sad it had to include Willie Best at his worst.

Buses Roar (1942) ** (out of 4) WWII propaganda from Warner about some German and Japanese spies who plot to put a bomb on a night bus so that it can blow up by an important stretch of road that will then hamper America's efforts in the war. Buses ROAR is actually a pretty interesting "B" movie but sadly there's just not enough suspense or drama in it to make it fully work. I thought a re-write of the screenplay and someone like Hitchcock could have made this an outright classic but sadly there are just way too many problems here. For starters, the lack of any real suspense is what puts the death nail in the coffin. The opening sequence shows us the bad guys talking about why they need this bomb to go off and this here actually builds up some interest. Instead of actually getting on the bus, for the next forty-minutes we get countless scenes inside the bus station where we're introduced to the large cast of characters. By the time we finally get on the bus we're just bored out of our minds from the countless dialogue sequence and director D. Ross Lederman just never gets our interest level up. When the bad guys finally show back up at the end it's more comical than anything else and especially with how over-the-top the foreign guys are shown. Richard Travis, Eleanor Parker, Charles Drake and Julie Biship are among the cast members and all deliver fine performances. Even Willie Best gets a somewhat decent role. Still, this "B" movie is mildly interesting for its subject matter but it just never rises to a higher level.

Probably the most racial and gender stereotypes per foot of film than any other film. Something to offend everyone. Even making allowances for the early WWII hysteria it comes across poorly. One feels that the film makers weren't taking themselves seriously. There is a really gross jumpcut in one scene. Rather than try to hide it, the composer actually put a music sting on it. Maybe everyone thought they needed to do the film for the war effort.