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Barry Fitzgerald, Basil Rathbone, Carl Esmond

Basil Rathbone is the major who sends his brave boys to face certain death each morning in this dark, yet jubilant World War I drama. Errol Flynn and David Niven are the hard-drinking aces in the squa...( read more  read more... )d who wish they had a few more days to teach the new pilots a few basic moves before they're sent up to face the dreaded Baron Richter. It's tragedy and camaraderie as the boys bond in the face of their own mortality and sing sentiments like "Hurrah for the next who dies" while getting drunk at the local inn. A peculiar respect and admiration develops between the German fliers and these brave Brits, which lends this war film unusual poignancy. If this all sounds an awful lot like a Howard Hawks film, that's because it's essentially a remake of his 1930 version. Perhaps in making this film director Edmund Goulding wanted to get away from his reputation as a director of soapy women's melodramas. If so, he succeeded admirably: there's breathtaking aerial combat scenes, strong performances, clever dialogue, and not a single woman in the cast.

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80% liked it

991 ratings

Unrated

Directed by: Edmund Goulding

Release Date: January 1, 1938

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DVD Release Date: March 27, 2007

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Flixster Reviews (57)

  • blacksnake2
    May 13, 2008
    blacksnake2
    From the era when being an aviator was cool. Anti-War film in the sense that the strain of combat and the haunting pain of loosing friends in battle is not hidden from the audience, but still seen as heroic and worth the risk. Young Niven and Flynn stand out here. Seen it years ...( read more)ago, need to see it again to make a better/fair evaluation
  • teach4food
    April 6, 2008
    teach4food
    Another aviator film from the war.
  • cavemanlawyer91
    August 1, 2007
    cavemanlawyer91
    I always love a good World War One drama. Especially this one with Errol Flynn. It was a little slow for me sometimes but overall it was pretty good. The dogfight scenes were wonderful.
  • enchantment558
    May 16, 2007
    enchantment558
    Errol Flynn is awesome!
  • spegbore
    April 6, 2007
    spegbore
    for a film made 69 years ago, its still pretty darned good
  • captaincook
    October 12, 2006
    captaincook
    a hard film to watch

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