DIVE BOMBER is a rousing tribute to "those magnificent men in the flying machines" at a time when America was about to enter into WWII when those bombs dropped on Pearl Harbor. This is a pre-war film starring ERROL FLYNN and FRED MacMURRAY, filmed in stunning Technicolor with some great looking aerial scenes, and interesting for showing the techniques being used then to combat altitude sickness among flyers during typical dive bomber maneuvers.
Flynn is fine, and so are his co-stars, FRED MacMURRAY (on loan from Paramount) and RALPH BELLAMY. ALEXIS SMITH appears once in awhile as Flynn's aristocratic looking girlfriend who can't get his full attention because he's too intent on working on solutions with flyer MacMurray. It's not the usual love interest angle but Smith makes the most of her flattering close-ups.
She made the most of other compensations--she met hubby CRAIG STEVENS on the set of this film and promptly wed him before filming was over. Stevens has a small role as a student prone to get into fights who almost gets kicked out of the service by MacMurray after some sloppy flying.
It all looks gorgeous in some of the best three strip Technicolor Warners did in the '40s--even better than CAPTAIN OF THE CLOUDS with Cagney. And, of course, air force aficionados are going to get a lot of glee out of observing all the aircraft of the period used for the flying scenes (of which there are many).
Seems that this is the film that put a real strain on the relationship between Flynn and director Michael Curtiz. Hereafter, Flynn refused to be directed by the volatile Hungarian and his next films were helmed by Raoul Walsh.
The story takes awhile to get going and when it does, it suffers from some poor comedy from ALLEN JENKINS in a contrived sub-plot that has him hiding from his wife. REGIS TOOMEY is good as an over-aged pilot, but among the supporting players, it's RALPH BELLAMY who does the smoothest job as the lab doctor dedicated to his job.
Summing up: Neither plot nor stars are quite up to the magnificent Technicolor photography but, as usual, Max Steiner's jaunty score sure helps.
Trivia note: The non-stop smoking while working in labs, let alone during all casual talk, is a reminder of how much non-restricted smoking went on in everyday life during that time period. Times have changed!
Flynn is fine, and so are his co-stars, FRED MacMURRAY (on loan from Paramount) and RALPH BELLAMY. ALEXIS SMITH appears once in awhile as Flynn's aristocratic looking girlfriend who can't get his full attention because he's too intent on working on solutions with flyer MacMurray. It's not the usual love interest angle but Smith makes the most of her flattering close-ups.
She made the most of other compensations--she met hubby CRAIG STEVENS on the set of this film and promptly wed him before filming was over. Stevens has a small role as a student prone to get into fights who almost gets kicked out of the service by MacMurray after some sloppy flying.
It all looks gorgeous in some of the best three strip Technicolor Warners did in the '40s--even better than CAPTAIN OF THE CLOUDS with Cagney. And, of course, air force aficionados are going to get a lot of glee out of observing all the aircraft of the period used for the flying scenes (of which there are many).
Seems that this is the film that put a real strain on the relationship between Flynn and director Michael Curtiz. Hereafter, Flynn refused to be directed by the volatile Hungarian and his next films were helmed by Raoul Walsh.
The story takes awhile to get going and when it does, it suffers from some poor comedy from ALLEN JENKINS in a contrived sub-plot that has him hiding from his wife. REGIS TOOMEY is good as an over-aged pilot, but among the supporting players, it's RALPH BELLAMY who does the smoothest job as the lab doctor dedicated to his job.
Summing up: Neither plot nor stars are quite up to the magnificent Technicolor photography but, as usual, Max Steiner's jaunty score sure helps.
Trivia note: The non-stop smoking while working in labs, let alone during all casual talk, is a reminder of how much non-restricted smoking went on in everyday life during that time period. Times have changed!