blanche-2 From 1950, "Chain Lightning" stars Humphrey Bogart, Eleanor Parker, Raymond Massey, Richard Whorf, and James Brown. Brown played Lt. Rip Masters on Rin Tin Tin and I believe was my first crush.This is one of those films Bogart probably made to fulfill his contract obligations with Warners, the other one being "The Two Mrs. Carrolls," a scream of a film in which he's really terrible. He's so rarely bad, and he's certainly not bad in this.Bogart plays Matt Brennan, a pilot, and in the beginning, he's testing a plane. His girlfriend Joan (Eleanor Parker) rushes up and begs her boss (Raymond Massey) to order him down, as she's afraid for him.The story then goes into flashback, with Matt and Joan during World War II. He was a bomber pilot, in love with Joan. He flew hazardous missions from England to Germany, while Joan is a nurse. He leaves for the states first - they want to get married, but he is unable to find anyone who can give him permission.Once back in the states, after bouncing around for a bit, Matt is hired as a test pilot by Leland Willis (Raymond Massey) an aircraft manufacturer.There, he re-connects with Carl Troxell (Whorf) who is now dating Joan, Willis' secretary. Apparently after he left England, Matt never contacted Joan, even though he wrote letters that he never sent. He felt the life that he could offer her wasn't good enough.Matt takes the new jet JA-4 on a hazardous flight, and that brings us back to the first scene.This is a pretty ordinary film, with Parker looking beautiful and Bogart acting tough - kind of Rick Blaine as a pilot. I will take issue with what one person on this board said, that Massey was playing Howard Hughes and doing a bad job. If the studio had wanted someone to play Howard Hughes, they would have hired someone else and named the character Howard Hughes. Massey was playing a Howard Hughes type, and he was fine.The aviation part of this film was ahead of its time for sure. The rest of it was not special. I've always loved Bogart's acting, and even though he's probably going through the motions here, I'd rather watch him go through the motions than almost anyone. Eleanor Parker, another favorite of mine, gives a lovely performance and is absolutely beautiful.

edwagreen After all, Humphrey Bogart reminded Ingrid Bergman that they always had Paris in 1943's "Casablanca." In this 1950 film, he could have reminded Eleanor Parker that they always had London.Bogie is an ace-pilot here. As always, no one can talk to him because he's Bogie,plain and simple. Parker was the gal he romanced in England while both were in uniform during World War 11 but did not wed.Back in the states, Brennan (Bogart) goes to work for Raymond Massey, an airplane tycoon hellbent on getting his plane off the ground. Brennan gets the job from a friend, the latter later killed off when the plane he was experimenting with crashes. The plot becomes should Bogie test the fallen pal's plane.Massey is rather subdued here in his quest for publicity when Brennan tests his plane. Ditto for Parker. She had always been accused of over-acting, but that's not the case here.

bkoganbing In the recent film The Aviator, one of the points of Howard Hughes's life that was gone into great detail was his post World War II airplane crash in Beverly Hills while testing a new model. From what was shown in Leonardo DiCaprio's hauntingly accurate portrayal of Hughes, the casting of Raymond Massey in a paper thin version of the flamboyant aviator/businessman is pretty laughable. I'm sure Howard must have seen Chain Lightning and didn't like it a bit.Jets were certainly a new phenomenon in those years and had the Germans developed them sooner and additionally had invested in aircraft carriers, the course of history would have been markedly and tragically different. Humphrey Bogart is not bad as the Chuck Yeager like test pilot, in fact Yeager's historic flight breaking the sound barrier is referenced in the plot. Warner Brothers would have been better served with a straightforward biographical film about that flight. Richard Whorf is the earnest aircraft engineer who worries that Massey is sacrificing safety for flashy headlines. Sad to say, but Howard Hughes would have been the first to agree with Massey's position. Headlines did and still do sell military hardware, just a fact of life.Warner Brothers cheated on the aerial footages, you can plainly see the stuff is pretty routine. Now one thing about Howard Hughes, he certainly did know how to make aerial films exciting.Fairly clichéd subplot about Bogart reuniting with war time love Eleanor Parker who is now Massey's secretary. I would recommend it for fans of Bogey and that's about it.

tek3 Chain Lightning is pretty clearly riding the early '50's interest which arose from the disclosure of Yeager's shattering of the sound barrier in '46. The plane Bogie flies is visually a cross between the Bell X1 and X2. (Paned flush windscreen, but swept wings.) "This is the JA-3, position 300 miles to the north of you...Oops! Just passed you." It's not really a Bogie movie, it's one of the first hot-plane movies. I liked it a lot, since I was a hot-plane fan as a little kid. Bogie does OK, certainly. Little details like the perforations in the bottom of his faceplate (in a "pressure suit"!) rather hint that some members of the crew didn't quite understand what they were creating, but I'd rather watch him trying to shake off that stuck rocket booster or land dead stick than sit through another run down some Death Star trench:). It fits into the genre occupied by The Dam Busters and 663 Squadron, fast flying, but none of their "combat" content. The people support the hardware adequately:).