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France, 1915, a squadronhouse of the Royal Air Force close to enemy
lines, where young pilots are sent over to German territory in bullet
riddled fighter planes basically as cannon fodder, on suicide missions to
weaken German forces with little chance to return. Squadron commander
Brand (Basil Rathbone) has the most rotten job of them all, a former ace
pilot himself, he now has to send unexperienced pilots into their deaths,
which has long hardened his exterior, though every time he loses one of
his men, it breaks his heart some more. Brand's main opponent within his
own ranks is Courtney (Errol Flynn), the current ace pilot of the
squadron, who (unfairly) considers him to be an executioner while Brand
does his best to improve the situation of his men but can't help but
follow orders when it comes to specific missions - that more often than
not only condemn more young men to their deaths Courtney and fellow
pilot Scott (David Niven) are known for their courage, their experience
and their cunning in battle, but also for their escapades - escapades that
put a further strain on the relationship between Brand and Courtney. Then
though, one of these escapades, an attack on an enemy airbase without any
orders from above that cost Courtney and Scott their planes, an escapade
for which Brand wanted to have them disciplined, is well-received by High
Command, so well-received in fact that Brand is promoted - and as a sort
of revenge, he sees to it that Courtney gets his old, rotten job as
squadron commander. Now it's up to Courtney to wait for his pilots to
return and to count the losses, and it pretty much breaks him, as it has
broken Brand before, but the situation gets especially bad when he finds
Scott's brother Donnie (Morton Lowry) among the new recrutes, and against
Scott's express protest, he has to send Donnie up on a mission the very
next day, a mission he never returns from. From here on, Scott and
Courtney are friends no more. Eventually, Brand returns, but not to
gloat but to offer solace and advice, and to bring special secret orders
for a suicide mission for an experienced fighter pilot, to bomb an arsenal
60 kilometers behind enemy lines. Courtney wants to go himself of course,
because that's just the mission he feels to be cut out for, but that's out
of the question, and to noone's real surprise, Scott volunteers for the
mission. On the eve of the mission, Courtney and Scott finally reconcile -
but then Courntey gets Scott so drunk that he passes out, and he goes on
the mission in his place, which becomes a bigger success than expected ...
but Courtney never returns, only his glasses and helmet are dropped by an
enemy plane as a sort of respect for a fallen soldier. And Scott has
inherited Courtney's rotten job as squadron commander ... A
very insightful and compelling anti-warfilm that might not be totally free
of kitsch and clichées - but that's what keeps the film going as a genre
rather than a message movie, and that (ironically) gets the message across
in a much smoother way. Of course, smooth direction and an excellent cast
- with even Errol Flynn giving a very fine performance - don't hurt
either. And while most of the aerial footage was lifted from an earlier
version of the story, 1930's The Dawn Patrol aka Flight
Commander by Howard Hawks, it still looks mighty impressive.
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