The Dawn Patrol (1938)

Directed by Edmund Goulding. Starring Errol Flynn, David Niven, Basil Rathbone, Donald Crisp, Carl Esmond, Melville Cooper, Morton Lowry, Barry Fitzgerald, Peter Willes.

In their other 1938 Warner Bros. pairing (The Adventures of Robin Hood), Flynn and Rathbone were mortal enemies, but here they fight for the same side…though they still find time for sparring. Flynn and his weary flyboys undertake dangerous aerial missions at dawn; Rathbone, pressured by orders from top brass, sympathizes with their plight but won’t be swayed by sensible pleas from issuing the assignments. Fine study of wartime fatigue, camaraderie, and chain-of-command. Air combat scenes can’t compete with the likes from earlier epics like Hell’s Angels and Wings, but the earthbound scenes are a vast improvement, uncluttered by meaningless romance or overcooked melodrama. Previously filmed in 1930 by Howard Hawks.

76/100