The Dawn Patrol | |
---|---|
![]() 1938 US Theatrical Poster | |
Directed by | Edmund Goulding |
Written by | John Monk Saunders (story) Seton I. Miller Dan Totheroh |
Produced by | Jack L. Warner (executive producer) Hal B. Wallis (executive producer) Robert Lord (associate producer) |
Starring | Errol Flynn Basil Rathbone David Niven |
Cinematography | Tony Gaudio |
Edited by | Ralph Dawson |
Music by | Max Steiner |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 103 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $500,000 [1] [2] |
Box office | $2,185,000 [2] |
The Dawn Patrol is a 1938 American war film, a remake of the pre-Code 1930 film of the same title. Both were based on the short story "The Flight Commander" by John Monk Saunders, [3] an American writer said to have been haunted by his inability to get into combat as a flyer with the U.S. Air Service. [4]
The film, directed by Edmund Goulding, stars Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone and David Niven as Royal Flying Corps fighter pilots in World War I. Of the several films that Flynn and Rathbone appeared in together, it is the only one in which their characters are on the same side. Although sparring, as in their other roles, their characters are fast friends and comrades in danger. [5]
The Dawn Patrol's story romanticizes many aspects of the World War I aviation experience that have since become clichés: white scarves, hard-drinking fatalism by doomed pilots, chivalry in the air between combatants, the short life expectancy of new pilots, and the legend of the "Red Baron". [6] However, The Dawn Patrol also has a deeper and more timeless theme in the severe emotional scars suffered by military commander who must constantly order men to their deaths (not a single woman appears in the film). [7] [8] This theme underlies every scene in The Dawn Patrol. [9]
In 1915, at the airfield in France of 59 Squadron Royal Flying Corps, Major Brand (Basil Rathbone), the squadron leader and his adjutant Phipps (Donald Crisp) anxiously await the return of the dawn patrol. Brand is near his breaking point. He has lost 16 pilots in the previous two weeks, nearly all of them young replacements with little training and no combat experience. Brand is ordered to send up tomorrow what amounts to a suicide mission. Captain Courtney (Errol Flynn), leader of A Flight, and his good friend "Scotty" Scott (David Niven) return but two of the replacements are not so lucky and another, Hollister, is severely depressed by having witnessed the death of his best friend. The survivors repair to the bar in their mess for drinks and fatalistic revelry. Courtney does his best to console Hollister but the youngster breaks down in grief.
When Brand announces the next day's dawn patrol, Courtney tells Brand he does not have enough men. Brand retorts that more replacements are on the way. From the four green pilots, Courtney picks the two with the most flying hours to go on the mission. Only four return this time; Scott has been lost along with the two new men. Courtney tells a sympathetic Brand that Scott went down saving Hollister. Just then, British troops bring in the German who downed Scott, Hauptmann von Mueller (Carl Esmond). Courtney overcomes his initial rage when Brand informs von Mueller that it was Courtney who shot him down and the German graciously acknowledges him. Courtney then offers the German a drink. The guilt-ridden Hollister tries to attack the prisoner, but is restrained. Then, a grimy Scotty appears.
B Flight is mauled next. Just after its wounded leader, Captain Squires (Michael Brooke), informs the squadron that the dreaded von Richter is now their foe, an enemy aircraft flies low over their aerodrome and drops a pair of trench boots. Attached is a taunting note telling the British pilots that they will be safer on the ground. Brand warns his men that the boots are intended to incite inexperienced pilots into trying to retaliate. He forbids any take offs without orders. Courtney and Scott disregard the prohibition, taking off in the dawn mist after stealing the boots from Brand's room. They fly to von Richter's airfield, where the black-painted fighters are being readied for the day. Courtney and Scott bomb and strafe the field, destroying most of the German aircraft and shoot down two which try to take to the air. Courtney then drops the boots. Von Richter retrieves them and shakes his fist at the departing British. Courtney is shot down recrossing the lines, then rescued by Scott, whose aircraft is also hit by anti-aircraft fire. When leaking oil blinds Scott, Courtney talks him down to a crash landing behind their own trenches.
Brand's outrage at their disobedience dissipates when headquarters congratulates him for the success of the attack and promotes him "up to Wing". Brand takes cruel pleasure in naming Courtney to take command of 59 Squadron. Soon, Courtney is forced to acquire all the qualities he hated in Brand. When Scott's younger brother Donnie is posted as a replacement, Scott begs Courtney to give him a few days so that he can teach his brother the ropes. Courtney tells him there can be no exceptions. Unbeknownst to Scott, Courtney calls headquarters to plead for a few days of training for his replacements but is turned down. Von Richter shoots down Donnie in flames the next morning, for which Scott blames Courtney.
Brand gives Courtney orders for a very important mission. An aircraft must fly low and bomb a huge munitions dump 37 mi (60 km) behind the lines. Brand bans Courtney from flying the mission, so Scott disdainfully volunteers. They reconcile and Courtney gets his friend too drunk to fly, then blows up the dump himself. Afterwards, von Richter intercepts Courtney, who outflies and shoots down two of the Germans, including von Richter, but is killed by a third pilot. Command of the squadron devolves to Scott. He lines up the depleted squadron for orders just as five replacements arrive. He stoically tells A Flight to be ready for the dawn patrol.
The screenplay from the first Dawn Patrol was reprised by original screenwriter Seton Miller, even though its dialogue had been limited because it had been one of the first sound pictures. Miller, in conjunction with director Edmund Goulding, although following the original closely and crediting original co-writer Dan Totheroh, primarily rewrote dialogue to incorporate the characters played by Flynn, Rathbone and Niven.
The proposal for the remake came from producer Hal Wallis to Jack L. Warner in a memo dated April 30, 1938, to financially exploit public awareness of impending war brought on by the German annexation of Austria the month before. [12] Goulding was available to direct after being taken off the filming of Jezebel in favor of William Wyler. [13] Warner had hired Goulding in 1937 on a per-film basis after Louis B. Mayer had fired him from MGM Studios in a sex scandal, [14] and offered him the Dawn Patrol assignment to keep him interested while he completed preparations for filming Dark Victory , which he also wanted Goulding to direct. [15] Although Goulding detested remakes, he had successfully filmed a remake of one of his own films as his first Warner Brothers project and agreed. [Note 3]
The film featured an entirely male cast, [17] and all 12 credited roles of characters in the 59th Squadron were filled by actors with British backgrounds. One of the many fellow Englishman actors cast by Goulding was his house-mate, Michael Brooke (the 7th Earl of Warwick), while Rathbone and Flynn were selected because of their recent appearance together in The Adventures of Robin Hood . [7] Goulding's biographer Matthew Kennedy wrote:
Everyone remembered a set filled with fraternal good cheer ... The filming of Dawn Patrol was an unusual experience for everyone connected with it, and dissipated for all time the legend that Britishers are lacking in a sense of humor ... The picture was made to the accompaniment of more ribbing than Hollywood has ever witnessed. The setting for all this horseplay was the beautiful English manners of the cutterups. The expressions of polite and pained shock on the faces of Niven, Flynn, Rathbone et al., when (women) visitors were embarrassed was the best part of the nonsense. [17]
Principal photography began on August 6, 1938, and ended six weeks later on September 15. Airfield exteriors were shot at the Warner Brothers Ranch near Calabasas, California. [18] [Note 4]
Although a great deal of aerial footage was reused from the earlier 1930 production, Howard Hawks assembled a variety of aircraft in a film squadron to shoot additional flying scenes for the original version of The Dawn Patrol. [19] Hawks used rebuilt Nieuport 28s as the primary aircraft type for the British squadron, and Travel Air 4000s (reconfigured for films and popularly known as "Wichita Fokkers") [20] 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. [21] 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. [22]
Director Goulding used much of the footage from the earlier film in the remake to save production costs. [3] For new closeups of aircraft with his own actors, he acquired three Nieuport 28 replicas from Garland Lincoln, a Van Nuys, California, stunt pilot who also recreated World War I aircraft for Hollywood films. Built by Claude Flagg, these "LF-1"s were constructed from Nieuport plans and had many characteristics of the actual aircraft, including upper wing fabric that ripped during dives. In Goulding's production, these aircraft also appear in a few scenes of Nieuports taking off, landing and taxiing. Additional Nieuport 28s were simulated by Thomas-Morse S-4C Scouts, and two were used in the flying scene in which Courtney and Scott attack the German airdrome. 59th Squadron's aircraft were marked in standard RFC camouflage and national insignia, had the marking "NIEU 24" painted on their tail fins, and displayed a cartoon Hornet painted on each side of the fuselage just behind the cockpit. [22] [Note 5]
For scenes at the German airdrome in which aircraft were moved or had engines turning, Goulding used "Wichita Fokkers" painted black with German markings. His "Pfalzes" had their wings painted in a large and striking red and white checkerboard pattern. Goulding also acquired two genuine Pfalz D.XII fighters for static closeup shots of parked fighters, with at least one repainted white in a later scene to "expand" their numbers. Actual Nieuport 28s and Pfalz D.XIIs were used much later in the war than the 1915 setting of The Dawn Patrol, while the model 28 Nieuport was not used by the RFC at all, but their familiarity of appearance to American audiences gave a verisimilitude to both films. [22]
Some of the aerial footage from both the 1930 and 1938 film was reused (specifically Flynn's doomed solo bombing mission) in the beginning sequences of Warner's British Intelligence , a 1940 World War I spy film starring Boris Karloff. [22]
The original script developed for Howard Hawks, which Edmund Goulding followed closely, stressed thematic elements that came to be associated with the "Hawksian world" of "pressure cooker" situations: a professional group of men who live by a code and face death with bravado and camaraderie; the responsibility of leadership in perilous situations; a preference for individual initiative over orders; suicidal missions; and the grandeur of aerial flight. [9] [23]
The Dawn Patrol uses four scene elements as visual motifs to describe a cyclical nature to war and a nightmarish quality in being in command. Each scene places the viewer in the commander's place, waiting with dread for the inevitable consequences. Nearly all action scenes in The Dawn Patrol cut away before the conclusion is played out to heighten the sense of dread. Each scene's recurrence has differences that accentuate those consequences: [9]
The 1930 version of The Dawn Patrol is notable for its lack of background music. [9] [24] The 1938 remake not only added a score by Max Steiner, but uses several songs to set moods. [25] Although not published until 1916 and therefore an anachronism, the melancholy "Poor Butterfly" is played on a gramophone in scenes in which the pilots drink to drown their sorrows. Tellingly, "Poor Butterfly" begins in the background just as Scotty greets the arrival of his younger brother.
The pilots themselves frequently sing "Hurrah for the Next Man That Dies"—and teach it to their German guest—as a grimly sardonic defiance of death. The song was a popular World War I drinking song. The lyrics come from a much older poem written in the early 19th century, recording the bravado of British soldiers struck down by the plague in India. The poem has been attributed to two different authors, Bartholomew Dowling and W.F. Thompson, but Thompson's work appears in a volume of poetry published in Calcutta in 1835., [26] when Dowling was 12 years old. Dowling died in 1863, 51 years before this poem was attributed to him in A Collection of Verse by California Poets (1914).
Each arrival of new replacements is announced by their cheerful singing of "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag", demonstrating their callow eagerness.
In addition, the flyers' carousing nature is emphasized in one scene with music. After Scott's return, he and Courtney drive off in a motorcycle sidecar boisterously singing "Plum and Apple" with their enlisted driver. This was an enlisted men's/other ranks' ditty about the class distinctions of rations at the front. [27]
With another world war threatening, the pacifistic script of The Dawn Patrol was well received by audiences and critics. [28] The film was one of Warner Bros. most popular movies of 1939. [29] According to Warner Bros. records, it earned $1,313,000 domestically and $872,000 foreign. [2]
Variety echoed many of the critics' reactions: "Dawn Patrol sparkles because of vigorous performances of the entire cast and Edmund Goulding's sharp direction. Story [by John Monk Saunders] is reminiscent of previous yarns about the flying service at the front during the World War. Yet it is different in that it stresses the unreasonableness of the 'brass hats' - the commanders seated miles from the front who dispatched the 59th Squadron to certain death in carrying out combat assignments." [30]
On March 27, 2007, Warner Bros. released The Dawn Patrol on DVD. Special features include Warner Night at the movies 1938: Vintage Newsreel, musical shorts "The Prisoner of Swing" and "Romance Road". Also included is the vintage Looney Tunes cartoon What Price Porky .
Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn was an Australian actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia de Havilland, and reputation for his womanising and hedonistic personal life. His most notable roles include Robin Hood in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), which was later named by the American Film Institute as the 18th greatest hero in American film history, the lead role in Captain Blood (1935), Major Geoffrey Vickers in The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), and the hero in a number of Westerns such as Dodge City (1939), Santa Fe Trail, Virginia City, and San Antonio (1945).
Nieuport, later Nieuport-Delage, was a French aeroplane company that primarily built racing aircraft before World War I and fighter aircraft during World War I and between the wars.
The Dawn Patrol is a 1930 American pre-Code World War I film starring Richard Barthelmess and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. It was directed by Howard Hawks, a former World War I flight instructor, who even flew in the film as a German pilot in an uncredited role. The Dawn Patrol won the Academy Award for Best Story for John Monk Saunders, an American writer said to have been haunted by his inability to get into combat as a flyer with the U.S. Air Service. It was subsequently remade in 1938 with the same title, and the original was then renamed Flight Commander and released later as part of the Warner Bros. film catalog.
Aces High is a 1976 war film starring Malcolm McDowell, Peter Firth, Christopher Plummer and Simon Ward. The film, which is an Anglo-French production, is based on the 1928 play Journey's End by R. C. Sherriff with additional material from the memoir Sagittarius Rising by Cecil Lewis. It was directed by Jack Gold. The screenplay was written by Howard Barker.
Hell's Angels is a 1930 American pre-Code independent epic war film directed and produced by Howard Hughes and director of dialogue James Whale. Written by Harry Behn and Howard Estabrook and starring Ben Lyon, James Hall and Jean Harlow, it was released through United Artists. It follows two dissimilar brothers, both members of the British Royal Flying Corps during the First World War.
Charles Eugène Jules Marie Nungesser was a French ace pilot and adventurer. Nungesser was a renowned ace in France, ranking third highest in the country with 43 air combat victories during World War I.
The Nieuport 28 C.1, a French biplane fighter aircraft flown during World War I, was built by Nieuport and designed by Gustave Delage. Owing its lineage to the successful line of sesquiplane fighters that included the Nieuport 17, the Nieuport 28 continued a similar design philosophy of a lightweight and highly maneuverable aircraft.
No. 46 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force, formed in 1916, was disbanded and re-formed three times before its last disbandment in 1975. It served in both World War I and World War II.
Flyboys is a 2006 war drama film starring James Franco, Martin Henderson, Jean Reno, Jennifer Decker, David Ellison, Abdul Salis, Philip Winchester, and Tyler Labine. It was directed by Tony Bill, a pilot and aviation enthusiast, and written by Phil Sears, Blake T. Evans, and David S. Ward, with the story by Evans. Set during World War I, the film follows the enlistment, training, and combat experiences of a group of young Americans who volunteered to become fighter pilots in the Lafayette Escadrille, the 124th air squadron formed by the French in 1916. The film deals with themes of friendship, racial prejudice, revenge, and love.
The 95th Aero Squadron was an Air Service, United States Army unit that fought on the Western Front during World War I. It was the first American pursuit (fighter) squadron to fly in combat on the Western Front, beginning on 8 March 1918.
Dawn patrol may refer to:
Desperate Journey is a 1942 American World War II action and aviation film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan. The supporting cast includes Raymond Massey, Alan Hale Sr., and Arthur Kennedy. The melodramatic film featured a group of downed Allied airmen making their way out of the Third Reich, often with their fists.
The Eagle and the Hawk is a 1933 American Pre-Code aerial war film set in World War I. It was directed by Stuart Walker and Mitchell Leisen and was based on an original story by John Monk Saunders. The film stars Fredric March and Cary Grant as Royal Flying Corps fighter pilots. The supporting cast includes Carole Lombard, Jack Oakie, and Sir Guy Standing.
No. 210 Squadron was a Royal Air Force unit established in the First World War. Disbanded and reformed a number of times in the ensuing years, it operated as a fighter squadron during the First World War and as a maritime patrol squadron during the Spanish Civil War, the Second World War and the Cold War before it was last deactivated in 1971.
John Monk Saunders was an American novelist, screenwriter, and film director.
Dive Bomber is a 1941 American aviation film from Warner Bros. Pictures, directed by Michael Curtiz, and starring Errol Flynn and Fred MacMurray. The film is notable for both its Technicolor photography of pre-World War II United States Navy aircraft and as a historical document of the U.S. in 1941. This includes the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, one of the best-known U.S. warships of World War II.
Lieutenant Jacques Michael Swaab was an American World War I flying ace with the 22nd Aero Squadron who was credited with ten victories. He later worked in the Hollywood film industry.
The Lost Squadron is a 1932 American pre-Code drama, action, film starring Richard Dix, Mary Astor, and Robert Armstrong, with Erich von Stroheim and Joel McCrea in supporting roles, and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Based on the novel The Lost Squadron (1932) by Dick Grace, the film is about three World War I pilots who find jobs after the war as Hollywood stunt fliers.
The Garland-Lincoln LF-1 (Lincoln-Flagg-1) is a replica World War I Nieuport 28 aircraft used for movie stunts and reenactments.
Hell in the Heavens is a 1934 American aviation drama film directed by John G. Blystone and written by Byron Morgan, Ted Parsons and Jack Yellen based on the stage play Der Flieger by Hermann Roßmann. The film stars Warner Baxter, Conchita Montenegro, Russell Hardie, Herbert Mundin, Andy Devine and William Stelling. It was released on November 9, 1934 by Fox Film Corporation.