Although at this point America was not actually part of the war yet, there was a feeling that it soon would be, and as such a number of pictures appeared which could be described as preparation propaganda. This was especially the case at Warner Brothers, by far the most anti-isolationist of all the major studios. The trouble is, if your countrymen aren't actually out there fighting yet, what can you actually make your picture about? Dive Bomber takes up the *ahem* glamorous and exciting subject matter of aviation safety equipment testing. And this is not just some inconsequential MacGuffin that drives along drama and action, it truly is the heart of the picture, and the screenplay demands you pay intention to it. The beginnings of a romantic subplot involving Alexis Smith peter out and are never consummated or given closure, which is almost unheard of for a picture of this time. This is not to say that there is no human angle to this story, and indeed there is very well-written theme of camaraderie and the overcoming of antagonism which acts in lieu of a love story, a theme which is able to run alongside the research business rather than distract from it. Writers Frank Wead and Robert Buckner (the first a real-life pilot, the second a regular Michael Curtiz collaborator) make a fine job of balancing things out, often putting some device in early on that will pay off later. For example, MacFred, Regis Toomey and their buddy Swede are all introduced showing off their matching gold cigarette cases. When Swede's plane crashes in the next scene, he just looks like any other guy in goggles and leathers. But then the cigarette case falls out of his pocket and we remember the human being we saw alive and well a few minutes earlier.
If Wead and Buckner came up with this brilliant motif, director Curtiz makes it function, drawing us in on the dropped case with a smooth dolly shot which matches the pacing of Swede being taken away on a stretcher. This is very much the Curtiz style, using a camera move to pull our attention, but disguising it with some other movement so it doesn't look too forced. Another great example of this is in the bar after Regis Toomey has landed in the RAF plane. The camera is on Toomey and his pals, but pans over to Errol Flynn sitting across the room. During this movement a waiter walks through in the direction of the pan, which looks coincidental, but it smooths out the movement and stops it looking obvious and jarring. Dive Bomber is often praised for the quality of its aerial photography, but for me the moment that really shows a plane at its best is on the deck of the aircraft carrier. We cut from a shot of planes coming into land, to a very typical Curtiz set-up with a plane viewed from low angle filling the frame, which really demonstrates the scale and power of these machines.
A feature of Dive Bomber almost as strange as the jettisoning of the love angle, is the appearance of Errol Flynn in a non-action role as a Navy medic. He pulls it off fairly well, nailing the most important moments of emotional strain as he deals with the death of a pilot he operated on. Still his failure to master an American accent is grating, as it often was. Co-star MacFred is at his most bland, but at least he is not conspicuously bad, and his rivalry with Flynn is believable. However the only real standout performance is that of Ralph Bellamy, cast a little against type but still well within the range of such a versatile character player. Although his Dr Rogers is introduced as a rude and impatient man, we instantly warm to him, and we get the feeling he has kind of earned the right to be so curmudgeonly through his experience and professionalism.
The Achilles heel of Dive Bomber is, understandably, the fact that it's subject matter doesn't exactly scream excitement. And yet those involved, most of all the screenwriters, have done a very good job of making it work. True, it is a little long, and it never quite sets your pulse racing, but it manages to wring suspense and poignancy from the most unlikely places. The balance of flight scenes and ground-based science keeps up a good pace, so much that a handful of comic relief scenes featuring Allen Jenkins, Dennie Moore and Cliff Nazarro are pretty much unnecessary. And it even just about makes you interested in military medical research.
If Wead and Buckner came up with this brilliant motif, director Curtiz makes it function, drawing us in on the dropped case with a smooth dolly shot which matches the pacing of Swede being taken away on a stretcher. This is very much the Curtiz style, using a camera move to pull our attention, but disguising it with some other movement so it doesn't look too forced. Another great example of this is in the bar after Regis Toomey has landed in the RAF plane. The camera is on Toomey and his pals, but pans over to Errol Flynn sitting across the room. During this movement a waiter walks through in the direction of the pan, which looks coincidental, but it smooths out the movement and stops it looking obvious and jarring. Dive Bomber is often praised for the quality of its aerial photography, but for me the moment that really shows a plane at its best is on the deck of the aircraft carrier. We cut from a shot of planes coming into land, to a very typical Curtiz set-up with a plane viewed from low angle filling the frame, which really demonstrates the scale and power of these machines.
A feature of Dive Bomber almost as strange as the jettisoning of the love angle, is the appearance of Errol Flynn in a non-action role as a Navy medic. He pulls it off fairly well, nailing the most important moments of emotional strain as he deals with the death of a pilot he operated on. Still his failure to master an American accent is grating, as it often was. Co-star MacFred is at his most bland, but at least he is not conspicuously bad, and his rivalry with Flynn is believable. However the only real standout performance is that of Ralph Bellamy, cast a little against type but still well within the range of such a versatile character player. Although his Dr Rogers is introduced as a rude and impatient man, we instantly warm to him, and we get the feeling he has kind of earned the right to be so curmudgeonly through his experience and professionalism.
The Achilles heel of Dive Bomber is, understandably, the fact that it's subject matter doesn't exactly scream excitement. And yet those involved, most of all the screenwriters, have done a very good job of making it work. True, it is a little long, and it never quite sets your pulse racing, but it manages to wring suspense and poignancy from the most unlikely places. The balance of flight scenes and ground-based science keeps up a good pace, so much that a handful of comic relief scenes featuring Allen Jenkins, Dennie Moore and Cliff Nazarro are pretty much unnecessary. And it even just about makes you interested in military medical research.