Brandin Lindsey
The Dawn Patrol is a 1930 war film focusing on the aviation aspects of the Great War. The story follows Dick Courtney, an ace pilot fighting for the Royal Flying Corps. As the plot progresses, Courtney's unit is faced with endless suicide missions and heavy casualty rates.The movie is a true-to-form war story. Without focusing too much on the overall arc of the war and the larger picture, the story focuses instead on a select few soldiers and their own personal struggles. The conflict is well-written and the casting is decent. There are also many great action shots, such as aerial views of bombs being dropped and the resulting explosions.Unfortunately, the movie is faced with many moments of bad acting. Examples of over-acting, over-the-top performances, bad deliveries, and overly phony death scenes abound in this film. The attempts at comedy are corny and should have been left out. Melodrama constantly bursts into the picture, with otherwise serious characters flying into "say it ain't so!" moments and "don't tell me he's g-g-g-gone!" scenes. At one point, a soldier nonchalantly dives into an opera in an otherwise songless picture.Overall, you could skip this film. This movie might be pleasing to those who enjoy war movies or perhaps specifically those who like World War I movies. Otherwise, you're not missing much if you decide to miss this one.
NavyOrion
(Note: although IMDb calls this film "Dawn Patrol" like its 1938 remake, the original title was "Flight Command," and it is occasionally screened under that title by TCM. Neither should be mistaken for the much-inferior 1940 "Flight Command" about Navy pilots, which starred Robert Taylor.) In either version, "Dawn Patrol" is a stirring and exciting story of the courage shown by pilots who know they or their friends will likely be killed on one of their missions, and the anguish their commanders feel when sending them to their deaths. Set on the battlefields of WWI, it is filled with exciting and realistic (because it IS real) flying from the age of "knights of the air." In fact, whole sequences (especially flying scenes and the climactic attack) were lifted directly from this film for use in the remake. Although it's a close call, I'd have to say this is one of the rare instances when a remake improves upon its predecessor, and recommend the 1938 film over the 1930 one, for the superior performances of the lead actors. 1938's Errol Flynn (as Dick Courtney) was more involving than 1930's Richard Barthelmess, a veteran actor whose performance retains the somewhat stilted quality of silent film era. And although Douglas Fairbanks Jr. was excellent in the 1930 version as pilot Doug Scott, David Niven in the same role positively sparkles in several more light-hearted, even comedic scenes. And of course, 1938's sneery Basil Rathbone makes for a much more despicable Major Brand (as the story calls for) than the original film's Neil Hamilton.Furthermore, current (as of 2012) releases of 1930's "Flight Command / Dawn Patrol" are not as visually clear in all scenes as the later version, and also have a lot of scratchy sounds and low rumble in the soundtrack, which are especially distracting in quieter scenes, particularly since the 1930 film did not have a musical soundtrack. Hopefully, remastered versions of both films will someday be available.Still, this is only nit-picking, as both the 1930 and 1938 versions of "Dawn Patrol" are excellent. But given the choice, go with Flynn and Niven of 1938.
barnesgene
This is what film-making is all about! The Vitaphone audio recording process challenges itself almost continuously in this early talkie. You aurally count the number of planes coming in (off-camera) while watching the reaction of the principals inside the office. You even get the correct fidelity of the wind-up gramophone as characters talk over it. Meanwhile, you watch aerial dogfights that switch seamlessly from soundstage re-creations to actual footage made by a camera mounted at the front of an aeroplane, without any jarring sense of displacement. The melodrama remains palpable with very little over-acting. I'm taking one point off for that occasional over-acting, and for the really dumb use of Southern California semi-desert topography in which the planes take off and land. It wouldn't have been that hard to find a location with a few more trees and more grass. Oh, well. The movie still must have knocked the original audiences' socks off.
lord woodburry
Many on this board have compared this movie to TOP GUN which is a good movie but lacks Dawn Patrol's depth.The early version of DAWN PATROL tells a complex tale of leadership and command best illustrated by the scene in which the commanding officer is promoted out of the unit and command falls into the hands of his highly critical, hot dog, second in command. I don't remember exactly was the CO said when he opened the orders relieving him. I believe the line goes, "Now see what you can do now that you can't do everything you want." The tension between the commander and his second is what find to be the most interesting part of the movie. Top Gun simply lacks that type of insight. Top Gun is more of an adventure story of a hot dog pilot.Movies comparable to Dawn Patrol in the military war genre which attain the understanding of the conflict at the top.are Major Dundee, Twelve O'Clock High and surprisingly the John Wayne film Flying Leathernecks.This film was remade in 1938 with Errol Flynn in the lead role. I'm told that it was so gripping that French spies on the Luxembourg border went to see it and missed the onset of the German invasion.
AD
