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The Dawn Patrol
Plot
Set during World War I, The Dawn Patrol is a study of the pressures and pitfalls of authority. A British Royal Flying Corp squadron commander (Neil Hamilton) is compelled by the higher-ups to send his boys out in dangerous, rickety aircraft. He is tormented by the responsibility, but does his duty as prescribed, and is branded a "butcher" by his top pilot (Richard Barthelmess). Hamilton is transferred, and with grim glee hands his command over to Barthelmess. Suddenly Barthelmess finds himself as much an unwilling "butcher" as a predecessor, and in exercising his authority he is alienated from his pilot buddies. Things come to a head when Barthelmess sends the brother of his best friend (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) on a suicide mission. The lad is killed, and the friendship is shattered. To make amends, Barthelmess gets Fairbanks drunk and flies the next mission himself--and is shot down while in battle with the fearsome German ace Von Richter. Now more understanding of his fallen companion, Fairbanks takes over command of the squadron. Because of the 1938 remake of the same title, the 1930 Dawn Patrol has been retitled Flight Commander for television. ~ Hal Erickson, RoviReview
Howard Hawks' 1930 film The Dawn Patrol (retitled Flight Commnander because of the 1938 remake) plays remarkably well in the twenty-first century, considering its age. As with most movies made at the dawn of the sound era, the camera work is a bit static at times, and some theatrical artificiality creeps into the performances -- there are moments where the viewer rightfully feels as though they're watching a silent movie, with just a bit too much visual emoting. But despite a few creaky joints, the film never loses its forward momentum, and Hawks makes good use of the available camera movement as well as music -- specifically as source music, to excellent dramatic effect, and this would have been a new feature in movies of the era that holds up well eight decades later. There are still inter-titles to explain scene changes, and a few other artifacts of the period, but otherwise this version of The Dawn Patrol stands fairly well next to its remake -- Neil Hamilton is fine as the harried commander of a Royal Flying Corp squadron during the middle of World War I, and Richard Barthelmess gives a good performance as his friend-turned-nemesis, the top pilot in the squadron but also his harshest critic. On them, with some help from Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. as Barthlemess's best friend, rests most of this drama, and that drama, despite its age, is still compelling. Where this film does differ somewhat from the remake is its relative brevity -- 82 minutes versus 103 -- and also a tighter focus on the grimness of the story. Owing to differences in the script and their approaches to acting, Barthlemess's Courtney shows little of the devil-may-care spirit with which Errol Flynn (being Errol Flynn) couldn't help but imbue his character with in the remake. There are some moments of comedy, and out-and-out joy, but as a product of 1930 as opposed to 1938, eight years closer to what most adults regarded as a shattering event, the overall tone of this picture is, understandably, more thoroughly earnest. Indeed, even James Finlayson -- best remembered across the four subsequent generations for his comedy work in association with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy -- is totally believable to modern audiences as a tough ground crew sergeant, without the picture losing a beat of its message and atmosphere. ~ Bruce Eder, RoviCast
- Richard Barthelmess - Dick Courtney
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. - Douglas Scott
- James Finlayson - Field Sergeant
- Neil Hamilton - Major Brand
- Gardner James - Ralph Hollister
- William Janney - Gordon Scott
- Edmund Breon - Lt. Bathurst
- Clyde Cook - Bott
Credit
Howard Hawks - Director, Ray F. Curtiss - Editor, Leo F. Forbstein - Composer (Music Score), Leo F. Forbstein - Musical Direction/Supervision, Jack Okey - Production Designer, Ernest Haller - Cinematographer, Robert North - Producer, Hal B. Wallis - Producer, Fred Jackman, Sr. - Special Effects, Howard Hawks - Screenwriter, Seton Miller - Screenwriter, John Monk Saunders - Screenwriter, Dan Totheroh - Screenwriter, John Monk Saunders - Book Author| The Dawn Express (1942 Film), The Dawn Chorus (2006 Film) | |
| The Dawn Patrol (1938 Film), The Dawn Rider (1935 Film) |
The Dawn Patrol
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The Dawn Patrol (1930 film)
| The Dawn Patrol | |
|---|---|
 theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Howard Hawks |
| Produced by | Robert North |
| Written by | Story: John Monk Saunders Screenplay: Dan Totheroh Seton I. Miller Howard Hawks |
| Starring | Richard Barthelmess Douglas Fairbanks, Jr |
| Music by | Rex Dunn |
| Cinematography | Ernest Haller |
| Editing by | Ray Curtiss |
| Distributed by | First National Pictures subsidiary of Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | July 10, 1930 (NYC) August 20, 1930 (US) |
| Running time | 108 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English / German / French |
The Dawn Patrol is a 1930 World War I film starring Richard Barthelmess and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. It was directed by Howard Hawks and won the Academy Award for Best Story for John Monk Saunders. It was subsequently remade in 1938.
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Contents
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Plot
The story revolves around the pilots and crew of an RFC airbase, who deal with the stress of combat primarily through nightly bouts of heavy drinking.
The two aces of the group, Courtney (Richard Barthelmess) and Scott (Douglas Fairbanks Jr), have come to hate the commanding officer, Brand (Neil Hamilton), blaming him for sending fresh pilots directly into combat. Unknown to them, Brand has been arguing continually with his commanders to allow him practice time with the new pilots, but command is desperate to maintain air superiority and orders them into combat as soon as they arrive. Brand is so disliked by the two he cannot even easily join the men for the nightly partying, drinking alone and clearly breaking under the strain.
The tension grows worse when an elite German squadron, implied to be the Red Baron's, takes up position on the line across from them. After losing several of the squadron's veteran pilots, the ranks become increasingly made up of new recruits, who have absolutely no chance against the Germans. In the midst of this, Brand is recalled to headquarters and Courtney is promoted to commander.
It is not long before he also learns of the impossibility of the job, and his relationship with Scott quickly sours. Things grow considerably worse when Scott's brother appears as one of the new replacements. He then does his own pleading with headquarters, only to be refused, and his brother is killed on his first mission. When Scott volunteers for what amounts to a suicide mission far behind enemy lines, Courtney steals his airplane and flies off in his stead.
Cast
- Richard Barthelmess as Captain Dick Courtney
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. as Lt. Doug Scott
- Neil Hamilton as Major Drake Brand
- Frank McHugh as Flaherty
- Clyde Cook as Bott
- James Finlayson as Field Sergeant
- Gardner James as Ralph Hollister
- William Janney as Donny Scott
- Edmund Breon as Lieutenant Phipps
Production
Aircraft
Howard Hawks assembled a variety of planes in a film squadron to shoot the flying scenes for The Dawn Patrol. Hawks used rebuilt Nieuport 28s as the primary airplane for the British squadron, and Travel Air 4000s (reconfigured for films and popularly known as "Wichita Fokkers")[1][2] for German fighters, but other aircraft in his small fleet included Standard J-1s for shots of entire squadrons, some of which were blown up in explosions, and Waterman–Boeing C biplanes for German aircraft destroyed in crashes. The scene in which Scott takes off with Courtney clinging to the wing switches to a shot of a Travel Air 4U Speedwing fitted with a round cowl over its Comet engine to resemble the Nieuports. Stunt pilots included Leo Nomis, Rupert Symes Macalister, Frank Tomick and Roy Wilson.[3] Several Thomas-Morse S-4 aircraft were used in the 1930 film. The S-4 was an American built fighter plane that did not see combat in World War I. Plentiful in 1930, the S-4s were becoming rare by the time the 1938 film was produced, hence the re-use of aircraft sequences from the original film.
Preservation
The film was retitled Flight Commander for television when it finally became legal for it to be viewed once again.[clarification needed] The original titles seemed to have become lost and these redrawn titles are on all known prints of the film.
Remake
The movie was remade in 1938 with Errol Flynn replacing Barthelmess in the lead, David Niven playing Fairbanks, Jr.'s role, and Basil Rathbone in Neil Hamilton's part.
Much of the flying sequences from the 1930 film, with several of the close-ups of the fighter planes, were re-edited verbatim into the 1938 movie, so as to save expense without having to search for or build new World War I era aircraft.
Popular culture
Warner Brothers released two Looney Tunes cartoons parodying this movie. Bosko starred in "The Dumb Patrol" in 1931 and thirty-three years later, in 1964, Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam appeared in a second cartoon spoof also called "Dumb Patrol".
References
- Notes
- ^ "The Plane". FlyWithTheBarnstormer.com. http://www.flywiththebarnstormer.com/about_the_plane.htm. Retrieved April 1, 2009.
- ^ "Le Wichita Fokker" (French language). Aeromovies - films d'aviation. http://www.aeromovies.fr/articles.php?pg=285&lng=fr. Retrieved April 1, 2009. This site includes numerous photographs of the type in film livery.
- ^ "Aviation Films - D". Aerofiles.com. http://www.aerofiles.com/film-d.html. Retrieved April 1, 2009.
- Bibliography
- Dolan, Edward F. Jr. Hollywood Goes to War. London: Bison Books, 1985. ISBN 0-86124-229-7.
- Evans, Alun. Brassey's Guide to War Films. Dulles, Virginia: Potomac Books, 2000. ISBN 1-57488-263-5.
- Farmer, James A. "Hollywood's World War One Aviation Films." Air Classics, Volume 24, no. 12, December 1988.
- Harwick, Jack and Ed Schnepf. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies". The Making of the Great Aviation Films, General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989.
- Mayo, Mike. VideoHound's War Movies: Classic Conflict on Film. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 1999. ISBN 1-57859-089-2.
- McCarthy, Todd. Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood. New York: Grove Press, 2000. ISBN 0-8021-3740-7.
External links
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