Dive Bomber (1941)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

Frank Wead (story)
Frank Wead (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

30 August 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

WINGS TO THE WIND...EYES TO THE SKIES! (original print media ad - all caps)

Plot:

A military surgeon teams with a ranking navy flyer to develop a high-altitude suit which will protect pilots from blacking out when they go into a steep dive.

Plot Keywords:

Blackout | Military | Flight Surgeon | Altitude Sickness | Flight School

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Errol Flynn	...	Lt. Douglas S. 'Doug' Lee, MD
Fred MacMurray	...	Lt. Cmdr. Joe Blake, squadron commander
Ralph Bellamy	...	Lt. Cmdr. Lance Rogers, MD, Flight Surgeon
Alexis Smith	...	Mrs. Linda Fisher
Robert Armstrong	...	Art Lyons - aviation designer
Regis Toomey	...	Lt. Tim Griffin
Allen Jenkins	...	Corpsman 2nd Class 'Lucky' James
Craig Stevens	...	Pilot Trainee Anthony
Herbert Anderson	...	Lt. Markham MD - assigned to Norfolk
Moroni Olsen	...	Senior Surgeon at San Diego
Dennie Moore	...	Ex-wife of Lucky James
Louis Jean Heydt	...	Lt. Swede Larson
Cliff Nazarro	...	Corpsman - Lucky's fast-talking buddy

Runtime:

132 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #7199) | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Cabrillo National Monument, Point Loma, San Diego, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Pilot Paul Mantz was seriously injured on his way to San Diego; Frank Clarke substituted for him during his convalescence.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The airfield used in the beginning of the movie was never identified, nor does it look like Ford Island which is used by the Navy. Eva Field was a Marine airfield near Pearl Harbor which it could have been. There are several Army airfields that it could also have been used.

Quotes:

Lt. Cmdr. Lance Rogers, MD, Flight Surgeon: [to novice flyers] Never trust your senses - trust your instrument board!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Dive Bomber: Keep 'Em in the Air (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

We Watch the Skyways

forget the plot, forget the actors,

The real "stars" of this movie are the actual aircraft the US Navy had in 1940, both old and new. Those aircraft are all in their original markings and complicated paint schemes, during the time the Navy was converting from colorful to subdued colors. Every color was part of a complicated plan to identify each aircrafts place in squadron formations allowing quick identifications of exactly where each aircraft "belongs". All the planes are here, Vought Vindicators, Helldivers, Buffalos, F4Fs, PBY's, and even the little used and known Northrup dive bomber competitor of the Vindicator. The US Navy went all out with massed formations in the air and on the ground, close ups, long shots, all of it the most impressive I've seen on the screen, and every foot of it in living glorious color. No attempt to censor or exclude anything, almost as if the US Navy was saying, "Don't underestimate us".

There is only one thing better than seeing this film on VCR or DVD, and that's seeing it on the large screen as I have thrice in my life. If you find the chance to see it on the large screen, don't miss it.

The frosting on the cake is the stirring and patriotic score by Max Steiner, parts of which show up in his other film classics like Fighter Squadron. This movie may have been made made over sixty years ago, but you'll find yourself ready to go running off to your local Navy recruiter, the effect it must have made on its audiences at the time.

When you view this film try and imagine the actions most of these airplanes were in against the Japanese less than two years later, at places like Pearl Harbor, Wake Island, Coral Sea and Midway Island.

Too bad Germany, Japan, Russia, and most of the other warring powers didn't leave a color documentary of their air forces of the time.