World War I ace Dick Courtney derides the leadership of his superior officer, but Courtney is soon promoted to squadron commander and learns harsh lessons about sending subordinates to their deaths. During the First World War, British combat pilot Dick Courtney mocks his commanding officer Major Brand for being too cautious, unaware that Brand is tormented by the requirement of his command that he send young men to their likely deaths in substandard aircraft and with insufficient training. When Brand is transferred, Courtney becomes the commanding officer and quickly realizes the burden Brand labored under. When Courtney's best friend, Douglas Scott, asks him to spare his newly arrived and inexperienced brother Gordon Scott from combat duty, Courtney cannot justify doing so. A rift grows between the friends as Courtney realizes the tragic demands of his job. (Note: although IMDb calls this film "Dawn Patrol" like its 1938 remake, the original title was "Flight Command," and it is occasionally screened under that title by TCM. Neither should be mistaken for the much-inferior 1940 "Flight Command" about Navy pilots, which starred Robert Taylor.) <br/><br/>In either version, "Dawn Patrol" is a stirring and exciting story of the courage shown by pilots who know they or their friends will likely be killed on one of their missions, and the anguish their commanders feel when sending them to their deaths. Set on the battlefields of WWI, it is filled with exciting and realistic (because it IS real) flying from the age of "knights of the air." In fact, whole sequences (especially flying scenes and the climactic attack) were lifted directly from this film for use in the remake. <br/><br/>Although it's a close call, I'd have to say this is one of the rare instances when a remake improves upon its predecessor, and recommend the 1938 film over the 1930 one, for the superior performances of the lead actors. 1938's Errol Flynn (as Dick Courtney) was more involving than 1930's Richard Barthelmess, a veteran actor whose performance retains the somewhat stilted quality of silent film era. And although Douglas Fairbanks Jr. was excellent in the 1930 version as pilot Doug Scott, David Niven in the same role positively sparkles in several more light-hearted, even comedic scenes. And of course, 1938's sneery Basil Rathbone makes for a much more despicable Major Brand (as the story calls for) than the original film's Neil Hamilton.<br/><br/>Furthermore, current (as of 2012) releases of 1930's "Flight Command / Dawn Patrol" are not as visually clear in all scenes as the later version, and also have a lot of scratchy sounds and low rumble in the soundtrack, which are especially distracting in quieter scenes, particularly since the 1930 film did not have a musical soundtrack. Hopefully, remastered versions of both films will someday be available.<br/><br/>Still, this is only nit-picking, as both the 1930 and 1938 versions of "Dawn Patrol" are excellent. But given the choice, go with Flynn and Niven of 1938. This is what film-making is all about! The Vitaphone audio recording process challenges itself almost continuously in this early talkie. You aurally count the number of planes coming in (off-camera) while watching the reaction of the principals inside the office. You even get the correct fidelity of the wind-up gramophone as characters talk over it. Meanwhile, you watch aerial dogfights that switch seamlessly from soundstage re-creations to actual footage made by a camera mounted at the front of an aeroplane, without any jarring sense of displacement. The melodrama remains palpable with very little over-acting. I'm taking one point off for that occasional over-acting, and for the really dumb use of Southern California semi-desert topography in which the planes take off and land. It wouldn't have been that hard to find a location with a few more trees and more grass. Oh, well. The movie still must have knocked the original audiences' socks off.
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346 weeks ago