good old airplane flick

I've just been watching "Dive Bomber" with Fred MacMurray, Ralph Bellamy, and Erroll Flynn. This is a 63-year old flick, absolutely beautiful quality video, and has a BUNCH of airplane footage.

Special effects aren't a major feature, the acting isn't superb, even the story line isn't all that fantastic. But, boy there are some wonderful scenes of Navy airplanes!

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"You can take a horse to water, but a pencil must be lead." -Stan Laurel

Don't you just love the sound those radials make in a dive? I got a kick out of the "space suit" they wore, but it is identical to the one worn by Wiley Post in his high altiude record attempt. Too bad it isn't in color.

But, it IS in color, Ty!

(Maybe it was colorized? Looks great on Direct TV.)

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"We are all alike, on the inside." -Mark Twain

The film was shot in color. This one is my favorite old-time airplane movies. Even though some of the markings are wrong on the aircraft, you do get to see the gorgeous pre-war Navy color schemes. And where else (besides the movie Midway) will you see Vought Vindicators? And a Northrop BT-1?

LAST EDITED ON Jul-29-04 AT 11:12 AM (CDT)
 
Wow, I must have watched the original! That was back in the 90's. I guess I'd better watch more of TBS/TCM. He did colorize losts of older films. That was a very clolorful era for Naval Aviation and each color had a specific meaning, not just looking good.
The original was in black and white. I watched it on a clor TV and it was made in the 1930's, so the cances of a B movie being shot in color are very unlikely. It was made at NAS North Island in the San Diego area. Been there, stationed there. Lots of the pre war buildings are still there.

>The original was in black and white. I watched it on a clor
>TV and it was made in the 1930's, so the cances of a B movie
>being shot in color are very unlikely. It was made at NAS
>North Island in the San Diego area. Been there, stationed
>there. Lots of the pre war buildings are still there.

Ty, you are mistaken here, on three counts. I checked Leonard Maltin's "Movie Video and Guide".

1. The movie was shot in color.

2. It was a 1941 release, not '30s.

3. This movie starred Errol Flynn and was directed by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca, among others). Hardly a B movie.

LAST EDITED ON Jul-30-04 AT 00:17 AM (CDT)
 
Now this is interesting. I watched this movie thinking at the time, "too bad it's not in color" because I watched it in black and white on a color tv!!! I guess my vision went bad. I'll look for it in color the next time it plays. 1941 eh! Hmmm, I got the impression it was made in the late 1930's. How long before a film is produced, edited, the released? At any rate, a fun movie, and very hokey if you were in the Navy, you know exactly what I mean. It had all the "B" flavor. Hooky wood has never gotten a movie about the military right Closest was Search for Private Ryan=85%.

LAST EDITED ON Jul-28-04 AT 03:54 PM (CDT)
 
Friday night on TCM at 10:00 EDST they're showing "Fighter Command" with Red Skelton and Robert Taylor, I'm gettin' a tape ready.

Where, exactly, is that?

>Where, exactly, is that?
Turner Classic Movie channel.

Sorry, Eastern Daylight Savings Time

Randy: I was watching it too.

What has always amazed me about this flick is the absolute crystal clear quality of the color (Technicolor, I think). The master print must have been kept in some climate controlled environment, because I don't think this one was restored (may be wrong here).

A lot of movies they made in the 60s are Fade City by now, since they went to a different process. Worse than Sig Plyspan in Tucson, in July.

You've got to like those late 30s/early 40s paint schemes, with yellow wings, and silver fuselages.

By the way, I will get your Coca Cola Aeronca kit to Keats soon. And thanks for the business.

TMC is on a kick recently, watched "Captains of the Clouds" yesterday. Great combat scenes with model airplanes looking like hand puppets and a Boston Bomber chaising down a fighter, but then Cagney was flying so it must be true.

One of my many favorites has to be Jimmy Stuarts' (and a cast of thousands) Flight of the Pheonix, where they reconstruct one of the twin engine pods with the wing into a single engine job while stranded in the deasert, trying to get home.

All kinds of neat things to see, like using the old charges to start the engine. My favorite part of the movie has to be when the German guy that convinced them to try this radical rebuild in the desert confesses (after all their hard work) that his only real experience with airplanes was with the model airplane hobby.
First time I saw it when I was a kid I didn't know weather to laugh or cry for the poor guy...heh. I know it lacked a lot of realism, but it was still a cool old flick.

Eric V.

Speaking of model planes, I wonder if Kerry has the "Plastic Modeller" vote now, based on a photo in this week's Time?

He's building a Revell Fokker Triplane, in 1972. After he lost a bid for election (does this mean Sopwith Camels are on the docket if Nov turns sour)?

I looked at these vintage b & w pics in missed it entirely. It was The Wife, not the biggest fan of model planes on the earth (clutter, smelly clothes, other observations, etc, but sometimes uses them as decorative objects), that spotted it.

But it could have been an ARF Nobler from her point of view.

The problem with Flight of the Phoenix was evidently that they actually did try to fly that "plane", and Phil Manz was killed. The airplane they ended up using for the end shots was quite a different looking critter..

I always wondered why, with the wheels, welder, and the engine, they didn't try to rig up a dune buggy!

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"My husband and I are either going to buy a dog or have a child. We can't decide whether to ruin our carpet or ruin our lives." -Rita Rudner

That's and easy, one word answer Larry.

H O L L Y W O O D!

You want a great aviation movie? Checkout "SPITFIRE" with Leslie Howard as R.J. Mitchell. I watch this one at least once per month. My friend in Canada sent a video produced on BBC, wherein an RAF guy commented on and sat in, the Spit and also the ME109. Of the 109, he said "I wouldn't want go go to war in one of these" (because of the small cockpit and poor visibility). Quite a difference between this and the large canopies of the P47 and later P51.

My favorite, too. The hero is an aeronautical engineer with shortsighted management. Vickers took out an ad in Aviation Week on the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain to refute the story.

I'm just nuts I guess. But I liked "No Highway in the Sky", with Jimmy Stewart and Marlene Dietrich. The special effects were VERY hokey! And that "Reindeer" aircraft had a biplane stab/elevator! I've never seen that myself on any actual airplane, but I'm sure there must have been one somewhere.

"Mr. Honey", however did find a metal fatigue problem, I was inclined to think the story was inspired by the Comet jet history.. But it was released in 1951, ~3 years before the Comets started crashing. Spooky, huh? (Kind of like the China Syndrome, released 12 days prior to Three Mile Island.. Maybe life imitates art.)

Also, I wonder if an airliner WOULD allow you retract the gear with full weight on them? Unlikely, I'm thinking.

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"I got a new shadow. I had to get rid of the other one...it wasn't doing what I was doing." -Steven Wright

>I'm just nuts I guess. But I liked "No Highway in the Sky",
>with Jimmy Stewart and Marlene Dietrich. The special effects
>were VERY hokey! And that "Reindeer" aircraft had a biplane
>stab/elevator! I've never seen that myself on any actual
>airplane, but I'm sure there must have been one somewhere.
>

Hi Larry: And that was kind of an offbeat role for Marlene, too. Interesting movie that related a little to stuff I saw in real life at work, although it wasn't airplanes (tanks).

Biplane stab/elevator? Not that unusual. The first plane that comes to mind is one of my faves, the Handley Page HP 42, built in headwinds and all. And this one has three vertical stab/rudders. A great subject for Walker or Windy, no doubt. Google it.

Biplane stabs, lesse, there's that little thing those two brothers flew at Kittie-hawk......

>Biplane stabs, lesse, there's that little thing those two
>brothers flew at Kittie-hawk......

That one too! And all of those weird French concoctions from the late 20s and 30s...

Yep, I wasn't thinking. A canard STILL has a stab/elevator, even if it is up front.

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"To punish me for my contempt for authority, fate made me an authority myself." -Albert Einstein

And, one film which you likely won't be able to see is John Wayne in "No Hiway in the Sky". It was never released to the VHS market.

For sure you won't see the Duke in "No Highway in the Sky" since he wasn't in it, that was Jimmy Stewart.

Speaking of Da'Duke, anybody remember "The High and The Mighty"?

How about "Battle Hymn" with Rock Hudson as Col. Dean Hess? Supposedly based on a true story but I'm sure it was done "Hollywood" style. Still had some great flying scenes and in cockpit camera work and of course featured my all time favorite plane the the P-51D.

Dive Bomber is a great flick. I especially love the "pad" as it's shown on North Island. It was maintained until the late 60's, maybe even early '70's. You didn't need takeoff or landing clearance if you utilized the pad, just pointed into the wind and went. Unbelievable to even think of these days.

Two other flicks that have incredibly great flying scenes are "Always" and "Air America".

Although they eventually got very redundant, I also love all the Corsair footage on the NBC series "Ba Ba Black Sheep".

Tools

>Speaking of Da'Duke, anybody remember "The High and The
>Mighty"?

Uh, that was the one I was thinking about.
I barely remember it.

John Wayne is a commercial airline pilot. On a flight (to Hawaii I think) they develop a problem with #2 engine and it eventually throws its prop tearing a huge gash in the left side. All the stories of the individual passengers are told within the story of the brave crew returning the airpane safely to land.

The John Wayne movie was Island in the Sky, it and The High and the Mighty are both based on true incidents, described in Ernie Gann's book Fate is the Hunter. A great book you all should read. I have copies of both films, not great quality as they were taped off of a TV broadcast but watchable. Island in the Sky pretty closely follows the actual incident, High and the Mighty was hoked up a bunch to make it visually more exciting. I got the films from a source out in California. Could probably remember who it was if anybody wants to know. I would consider Island in the Sky one of the best aviation flicks ever made.

"Island in the Sky" really blew me away upon its initial release as a kid.

"Fate is the Hunter" was either a B movie or shaky A, although it had some fairly big names: Glen Ford, Rod Taylor, and especially Susanne Pleshette, pre weight gain. I thought it a solid story at the time of its release.

For model planes central to the plot, I guess Flight of the Phoenix is near the top of the list. Some other flicks where models are kind of worked into the story, or at least scenes...

Empire of the Sun, a Spielberg movie that is semi-forgotten these days. There is a fanciful "rubber powered" scene.

Cool Hand Luke (really)!

Anyone else name some?

In the remake of Flight of the Phoenix, what kind of models will the German (the Hardy Krueger character in the original) claim to have designed? Wouldn't it be neat if....nah.