THE DAWN PATROL (Warner Bros. 1938) Warner Home Video

A remake of the 1930 WWI Oscar-winning classic of the same name, to have starred Douglas Fairbanks Jr, all the elements for another winner were in place when Edmund Goulding agreed to remake The Dawn Patrol (1938) a harrowing high-flying action/adventure that cast Warner’s resident he-man, Errol Flynn as Capt. Courtney – one in a long line of British daredevil ace pilots, running certain suicide missions over the ‘not-so-friendly’ skies of Germany. In Howard Hawks’ original the largely forgotten, Richard Barthelmess had played Capt. Courtney as a loner of the ‘strong and silent’ ilk, vigorous and virtuous, but to deny himself the pleasures of the flesh. And while Flynn’s reincarnation, teeming in valor and vices aplenty was virtually superior to the charm-free Barthelmess, there emerged little else about this reboot to rival the earlier film in meaningful ways. Goulding’s retread was not nearly the action movie that the 30’s original had been, but far more heavily invested as an intimate melodrama; its perilous dive-bombing sequences, mere frosting on a rather articulately spoken cake.

Between Courtney (Flynn) and his second in command, Lt. Scotty (David Niven) there remained a quiet desperation of both the truths and tragedies that underscored their high-flying profession with a sobering twinge of reality. This reiterated for the audience that while the life of a flyer might sound attractive on the surface, beneath its thin veneer lay a very fragile fact – most called to the skies would not live to retirement age. Set in war-torn France, circa 1915, stoic Maj. Brand (Basil Rathbone) commands his 39th squadron with a stiff upper lip – knowingly to send his men off to die with less than stellar equipment. Brand’s superior officers press on, seemingly impervious to sentiment or even common sense as casualties mount – a frustration, eventually to lead to a rift in this chain of command. Meanwhile, Courtney does his level best to make a nuisance of himself: gregarious, opinionated and insubordinate, much to Brand’s chagrin. That situation is about to change when Courtney gets his chance to rise through the ranks and take command of the squadron. Seton I. Miller and Dan Totheroh’s screenplay managed to extol the tragedy of sending men to their doom without ever allowing it to become overwrought or maudlin. As the audience, we fly in the face of danger under sweeping and patriotic strains of Max Steiner’s brilliant score and with Courtney as our co-pilot, feeling the wind at our wing and the zest for danger building to a fevered pitch. Grandly amusing – if slightly tempered in its action sequences – Dawn Patrol is a great film about one war made at the cusp of another.

Warner Home Video’s DVD exhibits a solid B&W transfer. The gray scale is not as refined as on other Flynn films of this vintage, but it is still quite acceptable for a film of this vintage. Blacks are mostly solid and deep. Whites are fairly clean. Age related artifacts are present throughout but do not distract. The audio is mono, but adequately presented. Extras include Warner Night at the Movies and vintage short subjects.

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

3.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

4

EXTRAS

1