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In Flight USA Articles
Film Critic and Author Leonard Maltin On Some of His Favorite Aviation Films
By S. Mark Rhodes
Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guides have been a great resource for filmgoers to discover new favorites and re-visit old chestnuts. His most recent addition (Leonard Maltin’s 2012 Movie Guide from Signet) is nearly 1,700 pages and weighs in at nearly two pounds (it can crush the Kindle!).
Embedded within this guide are insightful, capsule interviews of some of the most noteworthy aviation films that Hollywood turned out in its golden age. Mr. Maltin was nice enough to speak to In Flight USA’s Mark Rhodes about some of his favorite aviation films and how the aviation film genre might make a comeback.
In Flight USA: Once upon a time the aviation film was as much a part of Hollywood genre films as the Detective film, the Western, the Science Fiction film and so on. What do you think are the reasons that the genre declined?
Leonard Maltin: (Long Pause) “I am just guessing mind you, but I think a lot of it has to do with gaming (video games) which maybe has taken the place of the excitement audiences used to get with aviation movies. When Top Gun (1986) came out in the 80s there was a lot of comment then about how some of the combat flying sequences resembled video games. And in those intervening years, those games have become really vivid and even realistic. This (the rise of gaming) might have replaced some of the thrill that films like Top Gun used to provide movie audiences.”
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.”