Warner's Mines More Aviation Gold from it's Archives
By S. Mark Rhodes
Warner Archives keeps cranking out great chestnuts from its vaults and making them available as a “Made to Order” disc. The latest releases are four great aviation melodrama/thrillers.
Bombardier is a 1943 film concerning the training program for bombardiers of the United States Army Air Forces. The film, starring Pat O’Brien as Major Chick Davis and Randolph Scott, is solid action with a plot revolving around the central clash of whether specific bomber training was necessary as a component of the USAAF. In the course of the film, Major Davis manages to demonstrate the superiority of high altitude precision bombing which allows for the creation of a training academy for bombardiers. As with many of these films, the trivia is particularly fascinating; reportedly this film’s plot reflected some of the debate about the role and effectiveness of specialized bombing during World War II. Much of the film was shot at Kirtland Air Force Base, which employed some of the cadets as extras. Bombardier has many near documentary elements reflected in it’s approach to the subject matter. Most interesting of all is the film’s prologue which is delivered by Brigadier General Eugene Eubank who was the commander of the first heavy bombardment group of the US Army Air Forces to see combat in World War II. In this prologue, General Eubank praises the bombing crews, which “must vindicate the greatest responsibility ever placed upon an individual soldier in the line of duty.”
Flight Command, a 1940 film, has a slightly more soap-opera-like tone (for lack of a better way to put it) and concerns a rookie pilot, Ensign Alan Drake (Robert Taylor), who joins the legendary Hellcats squadron in San Diego fresh out of flight school in Florida. Ensign Drake has a rocky start having to ditch his plane and parachute to safety on his first day. Later, his weak marksmanship leads to the Hellcats losing an air combat competition. Despite this, Drake is mostly well liked and accepted by his cronies until a rumor starts that he is having an affair with his commanding officer’s wife. Safe to say Drake manages to redeem himself by the last reel. Interestingly enough, Taylor took flying lesson as a way to “get into character” and reportedly enjoyed his experience on this film so much he joined the Navy Air Corps as an instructor during World War II.
William Holden stars as Major Lincoln Bond in Toward the Unknown (1956). The Cold War is heating up and the golden age of test piloting at Andrews Air Force Base (familiar from the book and film version of The Right Stuff) is well underway. Major Bond is a tortured veteran of a POW camp who fights his own personal war of sorts, against an unyielding 
General Banner (Lloyd Nolan), his military peers’ skepticism, and his own history and insecurities. The prize? A shot at redemption by piloting the cutting edge Bell X-2. As with these films there are a couple of interesting bits of trivia; this was the first and only film generated by Holden’s production company and it was also the film debut of James Garner.
Night Flight (1933) is a Warner’s release that is a general commercial release and not part of the “Made to Order” series. However, it is much in the vein of some of these other Warner releases; Night Flight is a film with a particularly interesting history – it is being billed by Warner Home Video as a “Lost MGM Classic.” Indeed, it has been out of circulation for almost 70 years and stars a cavalcade of silver screen legends including John Barrymore, Helen Hayes, Lionel Barrymore, Robert Montgomery, Myrna Loy and Clark Gable. Night Flight is based on Antoine de Saint-Esupery’s bestseller Vol de Nuit, which was an account of the author’s dramatic experiences as an airmail and delivery pilot. The plot is pure melodrama concerning the harrowing journey of much needed medicine into South America via an open cockpit plane through treacherously dark conditions. This is one of the more thrilling aviation films of Hollywood’s 
early “talkie” years with very sophisticated and striking special effects, most notably a breath-taking storm sequence. Other details impress, such as the way that pilot Jules (a charismatic near silent performance from Clark Gable) communicates through the din of the airplane by writing notes back and fourth with his co-pilot. There are a lot of stars here and the film struggles a bit to give each performer their moment, however, this film is ripe for re-discovery and Warner’s has given it attractive packaging and rolled it out in a first class way.
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