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| The Dawn Patrol & Flirting with Fate; December, 1938 | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 12 2013, 09:14 AM (705 Views) | |
| Laughing Gravy | Jan 12 2013, 09:14 AM Post #1 |
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![]() I dunno, I was in the mood for an Errol Flynn picture; this one's got a fine cast. It seemed a strange, old-fashioned, rather quaint picture when I saw it in late 1938, but I discovered when I got back to where I could google that it was a remake of a 1930 film, which makes a lot of sense. It FEELS like a 1930 film. 1917, and a lot of young British and American fliers go up against the Kraut fliers, but only a few come back safely. This is eating up Errol Flynn, who thinks commanding officer Basil Rathbone is sending the boys to their dooms knowingly, although what he thinks Rathbone should do about it, I don't know. Eventually, Rathbone is transferred, and Flynn is promoted, and he has to make those tough decisions, and learns sometimes you can't get around sending men (and boys) to their death. When his best pal David Niven's kid brother, with only nine hours of flight experience, is assigned to the base, Flynn has to decide whether or not to send the kid to his certain death against the legendary Red Baron. Good movie. Talky, but more thoughtful and dramatic than I was expecting. Edmund Goulding directed, and a good score by one of my faves, Max Steiner. Enjoyed this one a lot. It's different. ![]() After a newsreel (featuring jaunty young men in their flying machines) and a trip to the concession stand, I was back in my seat for the second feature, Flirting with Fate. Never heard of it. Thought maybe it was a daredevil picture, but no... An acceptably humorous comedy with Joe E. Brown. Brown leads a not-very-good troupe of vaudevillians across Paraguay, where he pisses off his boss, theatre owner Charles Judels, by continuing to spill things on his nice white suit in a running gag throughout the entire film. Worse, Brown's dancer, Steffi Duna, has caught the eye of notorious bandito Leo Carrillo, causing just more trouble than anybody can handle. Broke and with no work and unable to get back to America, Brown hires a couple of locals to kill him for the insurance money, and they go after the task with relish, even when Brown decides to call off the plan. A harmless, affable, passably entertaining B movie that looked good on the big screen. |
| "I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley | |
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| Chandu | Jan 12 2013, 01:08 PM Post #2 |
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Champeen of Justice and Seeker of Knowledge, but rascal at heart!
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I love the way Joe E. Brown takes irritating behaviors over the top and makes them laughable! |
| Not plane, nor bird, nor even frog. It's just little ol' me... | |
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| panzer the great & terrible | Jan 12 2013, 06:57 PM Post #3 |
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Mouth Breather
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The 1930 Dawn Patrol is a better movie. It's usually called Flight Commander these days and appears on TCM now and then. |
| Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious... | |
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| JazzGuyy | Jan 13 2013, 08:13 AM Post #4 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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The two Dawn Patrols are very much alike. The acting is a bit better in the remake -- I prefer Flynn and Rathbone to Fairbanks Jr. and Barthelmess. Otherwise the two movies are remarkably alike and I would rate them both about the same 3 stars out of 4, maybe 3 1/4 to the Flynn one. |
| TANSTAAFL! | |
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| Frank Hale | Jan 13 2013, 03:35 PM Post #5 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Never saw the 1930 film but my understanding is that the Flynn version used quite a bit of aerial footage from the earlier pic. I always thought this was one of Basil Rathbone’s best performances. |
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| Laughing Gravy | Jan 22 2013, 07:32 AM Post #6 |
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The 1930 version was announced today as available through the Warner Archive. |
| "I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley | |
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| panzer the great & terrible | Mar 8 2013, 11:37 AM Post #7 |
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Mouth Breather
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...and I ordered it right away... |
| Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious... | |
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| panzer the great & terrible | Aug 25 2013, 07:22 PM Post #8 |
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Mouth Breather
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I stick to what I said. Hawks and Goulding were both major talents but the Hawks version, despite the early talkie emoting, is tougher minded. |
| Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious... | |
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| AndyFish | Dec 30 2013, 03:59 AM Post #9 |
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Movie Watcha Foist Class
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I love the VOD archives of the movie companies and the fact that we essentially get commercial bootlegs of movies mew all thought would never see the light of day. |
| www.andytfish.com | |
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| panzer the great & terrible | Jan 10 2014, 10:00 AM Post #10 |
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Mouth Breather
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is there a kitten in here? |
| Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious... | |
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