Dirigible is Frank Capra's 1931 adventure film about the competition between American naval fixed-wing and airship pilots to reach the South Pole by air.
Fay Wray stars, as do Jack Holt and Ralph Graves, who also played fliers in Capra's 1929 talkie, Flight. In fact this film had been intended to emulate the success of 1927's Wings, another movie with a very similar plot.
Plot
When famed explorer Louis Rondelle (Hobart Bosworth) requests the U.S. Navy's assistance in reaching the South Pole, officer Jack Bradon (Jack Holt) convinces Rear Admiral John S. Martin (Emmett Corrigan) to offer his dirigible, the USS Pensacola, for the attempt.
Jack requests best friend and glory seeker "Frisky" Pierce (Ralph Graves) to pilot the biplane carried on the airship. Frisky is eager to go, even though he has just completed another record-setting mission, a coast-to-coast flight, and has barely spent any time with his neglected wife Helen (Fay Wray). She sees Jack without her husband's knowledge and begs him to drop Frisky from the expedition. In love with her himself, Jack agrees to do so, and without letting Frisky know why. Frisky ends their friendship in the belief that Jack does not want to share the fame.
The expedition soon ends in disaster; the Pensacola breaks in two and crashes into the ocean during a storm. Frisky gets a leave of absence from the navy to pilot a Ford Trimotor airplane for Rondelle's next attempt. This proves too much for Helen. When she is unable to get Frisky to change his mind, she gives him a sealed letter, to be read when he reaches the South Pole. In it, she writes that she will be getting a divorce and that she will ask Jack to marry her.
Frisky, Rondelle, Sock McGuire (Roscoe Karns), and Hansen (Harold Goodwin) reach the South Pole. When Frisky suggests setting down, Rondelle accepts his judgment that there will be no danger. However, during the landing, the airplane flips over and bursts into flames, destroying most of their supplies. Rondelle's leg is broken and Sock's foot is injured.
They attempt to walk the 900 miles back to their base camp, dragging Rondelle on a sled. Rondelle dies the first night and is buried. Later, Frisky has to amputate Sock's foot. When Sock realizes he is too much of a burden, he drags himself away to die while the others are sleeping. The other two carry on, but Hansen breaks down when he finds they have been going in a circle and have returned to Rondelle's grave. Frisky refuses to give up and forces Hansen to continue on.
Meanwhile, Jack talks Rear Admiral Martin into letting him attempt a rescue with his new dirigible, the USS Los Angeles. He retrieves the two survivors. On the way back, Frisky remembers Helen's letter. Because he has snow blindness, he asks Jack to read it to him. After skimming it, Jack substitutes his own improvised version, in which Helen is proud of his accomplishment and waiting for her husband with undiminished love. When they return, Frisky uncharacteristically skips a ticker tape parade through New York City to be with his wife. He assures her that his glory-seeking days are over.
Cast
- Jack Holt as Jack Bradon
- Ralph Graves as "Frisky" Pierce
- Fay Wray as Helen Pierce
- Hobart Bosworth as Louis Rondelle
- Roscoe Karns as Sock McGuire
- Harold Goodwin as Hansen
- Clarence Muse as Clarence, a cook
- Emmett Corrigan as Rear Admiral John S. Martin (as Emmet Corrigan)
Aviation aspects
This film is historically important to aviation buffs. A mid-air docking/recovery of a fighter plane with a dirigible is shown. At one point, the USS Los Angeles can be seen, portraying the fictional Pensacola. The crash of an airship during a storm is accurately depicted. One can also spot the aircraft carrier USS Lexington, with her 8-inch guns in the background during a takeoff of an airplane.
The aerial cinematography was by Elmer Dyer.
External links
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Films Directed by Frank Capra |
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