IMDb plot summary: British flying aces in World War I contend with the harsh realities of war.
Directed by Edmund Goulding. Starring Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, and David Niven.
The Dawn Patrol stars Errol Flynn, David Niven, and Basil Rathbone as a group of British flying aces very near the front during World War I. Rathbone is the officer in charge while Niven and Flynn are his ace pilots. We watch the group struggle with their relationships with each other while having to bear the weight of sending young men to die in perilous missions. I watched this for my 1930 film project, mistakenly thinking it was the 1930 version instead of the remake, and now I'm hesitant to go back and watch the original because I'm not convinced it will do as well without this stacked cast, as there isn't much to set it apart from other anti-war films of the same era. I do enjoy the sense of playfulness in the first half, which does a lot to bring out the contrasting devastation in the second half. I also enjoyed Rathbone's character, an officer miserable at having to send soldier after soldier on suicide missions while not being able to do any of the work himself, and it makes him bitter and mean. But overall I don't think this one will stick with me, though it was an adequate watch.
How it entered my Flickchart:
The Dawn Patrol > Jesus Christ Superstar (2000)
The Dawn Patrol < Safe
The Dawn Patrol < Incendies
The Dawn Patrol > The Ladykillers (1955)
The Dawn Patrol < The Great Gatsby (1974)
The Dawn Patrol > Dot the I
The Dawn Patrol < Lo
The Dawn Patrol < Knight and Day
The Dawn Patrol > Jackie
The Dawn Patrol > Anna and the King
The Dawn Patrol < Exotica
Final spot: #1555 out of 3711, or 58%.
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