A bit hokey in spots but, as a whole, not a bad film. Errol Flynn has to prove himself to a group of pilots as he assists Ralph Bellamy in experiments to help pilots overcome high altitude sickness. He earns his wings and becomes totally absorbed in the trials. One by one, members of the group who opposed him at first are lost. But Errol will help save the day! Great aerial and ground scenes, I believe filmed at at San Diego. The colors are great. As an aircraft afficionado, it is great for me to see Grumman F3F's (from Air Group 6, USS Enterprise), Douglas TBD Devastators which gained a negative claim to fame as very few of them survived the battle of Midway, and early model Vought SB2U Vindicators. The aircraft are brilliantly painted in peacetime colors. Look for the British "fighter"! The studio used a fixed gear Ryan trainer and jazzed it up to make it look like a hot fighter. Why they put a cowling used on an air cooled engine on a water cooled plane is odd. The propellor spinner is at the top of the cowling whereas on an aircooled engine it would be in the center. Oh well, nobody's perfect. It's still a good movie, definetly worth the cost!
June 4, 2008Difficult classic movie on DVD to find! Great price,fast Shipment, good communucation and the product arrived in good condition! What more could you want? Recommend this seller! Thanks!
Kevin
February 28, 2008 |  | A refreshing look at US Naval Flight Surgeons. |  |
I am a current US Naval Flight Surgery student. As is the case with most people, I imagine, I enjoy seeing movies that I feel I can personally relate to or that relay my career to the masses. Imagine my surprise when I found out that a movie had been created about a profession as obscure of US Naval Flight Surgery! And it was made in the early 1940's, none-the-less!! This movie is an entertaining fictional view of those servicemen and women who's duty it is to "Keep 'Em Flyin'". It follows Eroll Flynn, the lead, playing the roll of a junior Naval Medical Officer. After witnessing an aviation mishap, he decides that his clinical and research skills would be of better use study the ills of Naval Aviation, specifically gravitational force induced loss of consciousness (G-LOC) and hypoxia (low oxygen, in this case because of high altitudes). The story follows Flynn's flight training at Naval Station North Island in San Diego, CA, and his subsequent research into keeping his pilots in the air and alive. Those who are looking for a good old fashioned WWII airplane dogfight movie will likely be disappointed, but for anyone who is a bit curious about the doctors behind the scenes who spend countless hours making sure that the pilot in the plane is fit enough to complete the mission, this movie will be a rewarding watch.
January 18, 2008| | | A naval aviation historian's dream | |
In the 21st century, good film footage of U.S. naval aircraft from the 1930s and early 1940s is tough to find. "Dive Bomber" is a gold mine for anyone interested in those planes, whether as a historian, scale modeler, or just an aviation buff. The multiple flying scenes of TBD Devastators, for example, are especially poignant for those who are well versed in their near total immolation during the Battle of Midway, a short year or so after this movie was made. Indeed, it's likely that many of the TBDs seen here went on to glory at Midway. It's for this reason alone (the historical value of the terrific aviation film footage) that I give it five stars. Whether the script itself deserves such a ranking is another matter, but I'd turn the sound completely off and still rate this movie as outstanding.
November 21, 2007| | | USS Enterprise air group operations in 1941 in Color! | |
This movie is a fun story, plus an important piece of history. This is the only film I know which features the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier CV-5 air group operations in color! The real heroes of this film are the Douglas TBD Devestator torpedo bombers (the ones with the big rounded tail surfaces, and the long graceful canopy). These planes, and the men who fly them in the movie, were the actual planes and men who fought and died at the battle of midway in world war two. While the supposed star of the movie is the Vindicator SB2U dive bomber, these were replaced by more capable Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers by the time Pearl Harbor was attacked (later in the same year this film was produced).
Fred McMurray (who did a lot of Disney movies) does a great job portraying life as a naval aviator in 1941. The plot and story is fine, but the buildings at San Diego Naval Air Station at Coronado and the planes and the USS Enterprise are the big stars of this film for me. This is a must have movie for any world war two history buff.
August 31, 2007More reviews at Amazon.com ...
Daily Birthdays
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