IMDb plot summary: World War I ace Dick Courtney derides the leadership of his superior officer, but Courtney is soon promoted to squadron commander and learns harsh lessons about sending subordinates to their deaths.
Directed by Howard Hawks. Stars Richard Barthelmess, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Neil Hamilton.
The Dawn Patrol follows a group of military pilots at the very edge of the front during World War I, flying dangerous missions daily, and we see the toll this takes on the company, in particular the commanders. I mistakenly watched the remake of this film earlier this year, thinking I was watching this, and was unimpressed, but seeing this story again, I think there's more to it than I gave it credit for -- or maybe this version is better. It does a really good job of showing how emotionally devastating it is to send people to near-certain death without being able to do anything about it. The plane battle scenes are simple this early in film history, but they are effective at telling the story. There are less recognizable actors in this version of the story but I think they're acting as quite excellent and brings out the story just as effectively as the later version, if not more so. This one is worth checking out.
How it entered my Flickchart:
The Dawn Patrol (1930)
lost to How I Live Now (#1990 → #1984)
beat My Six Loves (#2982 → #2984)
beat Revolutionary Road (#2486 → #2572)
beat Son of Rambow (#2237 → #2264)
beat Ford v Ferrari (#2113 → #2133)
beat Selma (#2051 → #2058)
lost to The Girl on a Motorcycle (#2020 → #2017)
lost to True Romance (#2035 → #2030)
beat Beverly Hills Cop (#2043 → #2045)
beat Horton Hears a Who! (#2039 → #2043)
beat Dazed and Confused (#2037 → #2072)
beat A Lady to Love (#2036 → #2146)
Ranked #2145/3985 on my Flickchart. Flickscore™: 46.
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