The Fighting Lady is a 1944 documentary film (billed as a "newsdrama") directed by Edward Steichen, produced by the U.S. Navy and narrated by Lt. Robert Taylor USNR.

The first half or so of the film is taken up with examining the mundane details of life on board the aircraft carrier as she sails through the Panama Canal and into the Pacific Ocean, finally seeing action at Marcus Island (attacked for three days from August 31, 1943).

This gives a very realistic edge to the film, while the chronological following of the ship and crew mirror the experiences of the seamen who went from green recruits through the rigours of military life, battle, and, for some, death.

Boyington writes that the prisoners, tied and blindfolded, were thrown from their transport plane during a hurried landing, and that one of their Japanese captors saved their lives by throwing them into the pit, where they survived without harm.

Alfred Newman's musical theme originally appeared in Vigil in the Night and was reused in Hell and High Water and in many 20th Century Fox film trailers.