Flight (1929)

Director:

Frank Capra

Writers:

Ralph Graves (story) and
Frank Capra (dialogue)

Release Date:

1930 (Austria)

Genre:

Adventure

Plot Keywords:

Military Officer | Burns | Rescue | Drunkenness | Mechanic

US TV Schedule:

Tue. Dec. 15

1:45 AM

TCM

Cast

Jack Holt	...	Panama Williams
Lila Lee	...	Elinor
Ralph Graves	...	'Lefty' Phelps

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric System)

Certification:

UK:U

Filming Locations:

Columbia Pictures - 1020 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The wrong-way run was based on the infamous play by Roy Riegels of the University of California in the 1929 Rose Bowl. With the score 0-0 in the second quarter, Riegels recovered a Georgia Tech fumble at the Yellow Jackets' 30, somehow got turned the wrong way, and ran 65 yards toward his own goal line. A teammate grabbed him, but he was dropped at his own 1. The Golden Bears elected to punt, the punt was blocked out of the end zone for a safety touch, and the 2 points provided the margin of victory in Georgia Tech's 8-7 win. The movie uses actual footage of Riegels from the game.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Lefty Phelps is polishing an aircraft, Sergeant Williams calls to him by yelling "Hey, soldier!" As both men are US Marines, the sergeant would not have addressed him that way. Soldiers are members of the US Army and a Marine would actually consider that remark to be an insult.

Soundtrack:

Taps

Very good for 1929 and somehow very likable

The film is about two pilots--one who is the veteran flight instructor at Pensacola Naval Air Station (Tim Holt) and the other is a man who desperately wants to earn his wings, but he's terribly unsure of himself (Ralph Graves). Over time, a friendship develops between them that is challenged when both men fall for the same Navy nurse.

While all this might seem a bit predictable and clichéd, for 1929 it was pretty good stuff. Plus, all the familiar story elements contained in the film were NOT clichés, as this film introduced many of these items that would later become standard plot lines. Plus, the film is aided by excellent flying scenes and some amazingly fun and witty dialog every now and again. Graves made several comments that had me laughing. Because of this and the easy-going banter between them, this was a very likable film--particularly for nuts like me that adore early aviation films. The film abounds with great footage of aircraft and is a must-see for aviation fans.

By the way, the team of Graves and Holt made quite a few early military-inspired films for Columbia--making them the first stars for this fledgling studio. In addition to Marine pilots like they were in this film, they also starred in other films about US military (such as DIRIGIBLE, A DANGEROUS AFFAIR, FLYING FLEET and SUBMARINE). Oddly, despite their success, by 1931-1932, their careers as leading men were pretty much over.

One negative about the film is the sound quality. Though it does improve later in the film, FLIGHT is terribly in need of restoration as some of the dialog is very, very difficult to understand--a rather common problem with films from the early sound era. Closed captioning would have been nice, but was not included.