The Dawn Patrol (1930)

Director:

Howard Hawks

Writers:

John Monk Saunders (story)
Dan Totheroh (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

20 August 1930 (USA)

Genre:

War | Drama | Action

Tagline:

Greatest Air Epic Ever!

Plot Keywords:

Airplane Accident | Friendship | Motorcycle | Artillery | Revenge

Awards:

Won Oscar.

Cast

Richard Barthelmess	...	Dick Courtney
Douglas Fairbanks Jr.	...	Douglas 'Doug' Scott
Neil Hamilton	...	Major Brand
Frank McHugh	...	Flaherty
Clyde Cook	...	Bott
James Finlayson	...	Field Sergeant
Gardner James	...	Ralph Hollister
William Janney	...	Gordon 'Donny' Scott
Edmund Breon	...	Lieutenant Phipps

Also Known As:

Flight Commander (USA) (TV title)

Runtime:

108 min | USA:106 min (copyright length)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Vitaphone (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Metropolitan Airport - 6590 Hayvenhurst Avenue, Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

First National Pictures

Trivia:

In September 1928, Warner Bros. Pictures purchased a majority interest in First National Pictures and from that point on, all "First National" productions were actually made under Warner Bros. control, even though the two companies continued to retain separate identities until the mid-1930's, after which time "A Warner Bros.-First National Picture" was often used.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): William Janney's character name is credited as "Gordon" on screen, but he is called "Donny" throughout.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in An Intimate Dinner in Celebration of Warner Bros. Silver Jubilee (1930)

Soundtrack:

Stand to Your Glasses! (Hurrah for the Next Man to Die)

Virtuoso Film-making

This is what film-making is all about! The Vitaphone audio recording process challenges itself almost continuously in this early talkie. You aurally count the number of planes coming in (off-camera) while watching the reaction of the principals inside the office. You even get the correct fidelity of the wind-up gramophone as characters talk over it. Meanwhile, you watch aerial dogfights that switch seamlessly from soundstage re-creations to actual footage made by a camera mounted at the front of an aeroplane, without any jarring sense of displacement. The melodrama remains palpable with very little over-acting. I'm taking one point off for that occasional over-acting, and for the really dumb use of Southern California semi-desert topography in which the planes take off and land. It wouldn't have been that hard to find a location with a few more trees and more grass. Oh, well. The movie still must have knocked the original audiences' socks off.