“Think of Errol Flynn in “The Dawn Patrol,’’ a tale of brave but doomed aviators flying their kite-like crafts in World War I – “roaring into each blood-red dawn . . . with death on their wings.””
“When the Germans drop a downed pilot’s goggles over stiff-upper-lipped British lines, a character says: “A very gallant gentleman died this afternoon. . .”
“[Today] it’s a far cry from Errol Flynn in his Sopwith Camel.”
With Buddy Rogers and Band, Marion Davies, Cary Grant, Virginia Bruce, John Gilbert, Chester Morris, Lee Tracy, Lili Damita, Errol Flynn, Sid Silvers, Robert Armstrong.
(Musical Review Series)
MGM – 20 Minutes
A STANDOUT
There is more attractive flash, sparkling action and general entertainment in this two-reeler than in some features. Very effectively filmed in Technicolor, it takes the form of of a pirate masquerade party on beautiful Catalina Island, where scores of film stars happen to be present and thus give the film a big-time cast and bif fan interest. Charles “Buddy” Rogers and his orchestra provide the musical background and are an act in themselves. Chester Morris acts as master of ceremonies, doing a nice job of it and working in a number of big bits with Sid Silvers and other performers. The picture has plenty of flash in the way of eye-filling girlies, and things are kept lively by interpolation of aquatic action and a generally rapid succession of novelty numbers and star closeups. Lewis Lewyn produced it.
It is altogether fitting—and highly commendable, too —that the studio which gave us “The Story of Louis Pasteur” and “Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet” should turn attention at this time to an experimental branch of medicine which is making remarkable strides and which is of tremendous importance to our preparations for defense. And this the Warners are doing in “Dive Bomber,” yesterday’s arrival at the Strand, which is less about dive bombing than it is about aviation medicine, less about the fellows who fight in airplanes than it is about the surgeons who fight the strange and unpredictable ailments that attack a flying man high in the blue. For its oddly dramatic subject and its most extraordinarily colorful contents, “Dive Bomber” takes the palm as the best of the new “service films” to date.
Colorful, indeed, is the word which should be most clearly emphasized, for not only do the modern experiments in aviation medicine, elaborately detailed herein, have unique and fascinating pictorial interest, but the Warners have photographed this picture in some of the most magnificent technicolor yet seen. And, naturally, they have not forgotten to turn the cameras often upon masses of brilliantly colored planes, ranked in impressive rows about an air base or upon the huge flight decks of carriers, and roaring in silver majesty, wing to wing, through the limitless West Coast skies.
Never before has an aviation film been so vivid in its images, conveyed such a sense of tangible solidity when it is showing us solid things or been so full of sunlight and clean air when the cameras are aloft. Except for a few badly matched shots, the job is well nigh perfect. And the story? Well, again we face a necessary evil. Frank Wead and Robert Buckner, who contrived the fanciful tale, were laboring under the old Hollywood notion that no man can be a hero (or a genius) without first being misunderstood. And they have made this a universal rule. Thus their young naval surgeon, around whom the story is built, is originally misunderstood by a couple of pilots whose injured pal irretrievably dies under his knife. Then the young surgeon, inspired to take up aviation medicine because of this, misunderstands the older doctor under whom he is placed for instruction. A new recruit for naval training is misunderstood by almost every one. And it takes the devil of a lot of brawling and passing of dirty looks before these fellows all get together to experiment in harmony on means to prevent the unconsciousness which comes at the end of a power dive and the deadly sickness which attacks pilots at high altitudes. When they do get down to business, however, it is fascinating to watch them work, and their experiments in pressure chambers and in the air are more exciting than any fights.
Naturally—or, perhaps, inevitably—there has to be a touch of self-sacrifice, and this comes at the end of the picture, rather patly but without too much offense. And, to the credit of the writers, it must be said that they have trimmed romantic dalliance to the core. A female is dragged into the picture only long enough to assure Errol Flynn of holding his franchise as a wolf. For it is Mr. Flynn who plays the young surgeon, and he does so with his usual elegance, looking very dashing and romantic in a variety of uniforms and behaving with solemn dignity in moments of stress. Fred MacMurray and Regis Toomey play a couple of hard-bitten, old-line pilots credibly, and Ralph Bellamy gives a serious, impressive performance as an older doctor. In the few glimpses we have of her, Alexis Smith looks good; can’t tell you yet how she acts. But chief credit for the glory that’s in this picture goes to the United States Navy, which cooperated in its production, and to the fellows who aimed the cameras. They collectively gave it powerful and steady wings.
DIVE BOMBER; screen play by Frank Wead and Robert Buckner; from a story by Frank Wead; directed by Michael Curtiz for Warner Brothers. At the Strand. Doug Lee . . . . . Errol Flynn Joe Blake . . . . . Fred MacMurray Dr. Lance Rogers . . . . . Ralph Bellamy Linda Fisher . . . . . Alexis Smith Art Lyons . . . . . Robert Armstrong Tim Griffin . . . . . Regis Toomey Lucky James . . . . . Allen Jenkins John Thomas Anthony . . . . . Craig Stevens Chubby . . . . . Herbert Anderson Sr. Surgeon at San Diego . . . . . Moroni Olsen Mrs. James . . . . . Dennie Moore Swede Larson . . . . . Louis Jean Heydt Corps Man . . . . . Cliff Nazarro
Drunk or Not So Drunk – That was the Question
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LIFE Magazine – April 1, 1939
“Last fortnight [Virginia City’s] population totaled 500, most of whom got so drunk that Warner Bros. curtailed its visit and hustled its valuable stars back to Reno’s safer streets.”
THE UNDERSIGNED REPRESENTING THE PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA CITY DEMAND THAT YOU RETRACT AND APOLOGIZE IN YOUR NEXT ISSUE THE FOLLOWING ISSUE PUBLISHED IN IN APRIL FIRST ISSUE, PAGE 32: “LAST FORTNIGHT ITS POPULATION TOTALED 500, MOST OF WHOM GOT SO DRUNK THAT WARNER BROS CURTAILED ITS VISIT AND HUSTLED ITS VALUABLE STARS BACK TO RENO’S SAFER STREETS.” THE STATEMENT IS FALSE AND AN INSULT TO THE PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA.
WILL COBB, STATE SENATOR – THOMAS LYNCH, ASSEMBLY MAN
VIRGINIA CITY, NEV.
Editor’s Response: Thousands of visitors poured into Virginia City that day. Probably they were the ones that raised most of the commotion. The fact remains that what made the movie stars hustle back was the conduct of the patrons of the Virginia Theater where the stars were scheduled to make personal appearances. Said a U.P. dispatch to the New York Times: “So gala was the occasion that Manager Hart installed a bar in his lobby and served free whiskey and champagne to all ticket holders…. Manager Hart rushed new relays of case goods from the Bucket of Blood across the street.” When the Warner Bros. executives reached the theater, they decided the patrons were drunk, that the situation was too dangerous for them to risk their valuable stars. If Errol Flynn, for instance, had received a black eye from a flying bottle, it would have cost them $20,000 a day. So they took everybody back to Reno.
I read your issue of April 15 that Warner Bros.could not risk taking Errol Flynn et al into the Virginia City Theater because they decided “the patrons were drunk” and there was some danger Mr. Flynn’s being hit by a flying bottle.
I do not know who your informant is, but he or she s – to put it mildly – a liar. I was in that theater. My family was there. great many people I know were also there. There was no drunkenness and no disorderly conduct. Mr. Flynn would have been very much safer than he was in Reno.
True, Mr. Hart did dispense free champagne, but those who drank it were on the streets and not in the theater.
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Errol the Auctioneer, on the same stage used by Gentleman Jim Corbett, Mark Twain, Lillie Langtry, John Philip Souza, and Edwin Booth, among many other legendary greats
“Piper’s Opera House is a historic performing arts venue in Virginia City. It served as a training facility in 1897 for heavyweight boxing champion Gentleman Jim Corbett, in preparation for his title bout with Bob Fitzsimmons. The current structure was built by entrepreneur John Piper in 1885 to replace his 1878 opera house that had burned down. The 1878 venue, in turn, had been to replace Piper’s 1863 venue which was destroyed by the 1875 Great Fire in Virginia City. Mark Twain spoke from the original Piper’s stage in 1866, and again a century later in the third venue, as portrayed by Hal Holbrook in his one-man play Mark Twain Tonight! A lynch mob hung a victim from the first venue’s rafters in 1871. American theatrical producer David Belasco was stage manager at the second opera house before moving to New York City. Piper’s opera houses played host to Shakespearean thespians such as Edwin Booth. Musical performers Lilly Langtry, Al Jolson and John Philip Sousa once performed here. In 1940, Errol Flynn auctioned off historic Piper memorabilia from the opera house stage, during a live NBC broadcast that coincided with the premiere of Flynn’s new movie Virginia City.”
Sidney Skolsky Presents
Watching Them Make Pictures
Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Claude Rains, and a crowd of extras are getting ready to play a scene for the picture, Robin Hood.
The setting is Nottingham Castle in England, and a feast is about to take place. Errol Flynn is Robin Hood, and Claude Rains is Prince John. The extras, dressed as knights, stand out in their shining armor. Director Mike Curtiz seems out of place, wearing trousers and a sweater.
Dirctor Curtiz gives the signal that he is ready. The cameras are turning. Robin Hood Flynn, lugging a deer, walks toward the banquet table. Here Prince John, with meats and wines before him, is entertaining. Robin Hood Flynn offers him the deer for the feast.
It is then that Prince John interrupts the scene and becomes Claude Rains.
He says to Curtiz, “Mike, I forgot to tell you something. I’ve been doing some research on the part. And according to history, Prince John was a vegetarian, and he never drank wine.”
Miss de Havilland and Mr. Rathbone, standing at the banquet table, are amazed, but say that history is history.
But this doesn’t stop director Curtiz. He says: “We need this big scene for the picture. In the movies we don’t make historical pictures, we make history.”
Hollywood’s most famous horsemen from their major studios will be in the line-up of the Sixth War Loan Parade Saturday morning in downtown Los Angeles.
Errol Flynn has been appointed honorary grand marshall to ride with Sheriff Eugene W. Biscailuz, who will head the thousands of riders.
Following the Sheriff’s Posse will be the following film celebrities heading various groups: Lewis Stone, Prestin Foster, Roy Rogers, Bill Elliot, Don Barry, Bob Mitchum, Hoot Gibson, Bob Steele, Bill Boyd, Leo Carillo, Charles Starrett, Johnny Mack Brown, Noah Beery Jr., and Mrs. Beery, Chris Pin Martin, Michael O’Shea, Big Boy Williams, Dick Foran, George Tobias, and Dennis Morgan.
Honorary Grand Marshall Errol Flynn (shown below at the Dodge City Premier Parade in 1939)
They are staging a prize-fight, vintage of 1905, for Warner Bros Picture, The Sisters.
Two old time fighters are in the ring and Bette Davis and Errol Flynn are sitting in the front row. Flynn plays a sports writer in the story and Bette is his wife. This is supposed to be the first fight she has ever seen and one of the boxers gets knocked out of the ring and practically into her lap. She is sickened and leaves the stadium.
Bette Davis isn’t a fight fan off the screen, either.
Taking their cue from the success of The Adventures of Robin Hood, Warner Bros. are digging in making preparations for a sequel to be ready for release next spring. Title is Sir Robin of Locksley,, an original by Norman Reilly Raine and Seton I. MIller. Erich Korngold already is at work on the score. Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland are slated for the leads. Virtually all concerned in the scheduled follow-up contributed to The Adventures of Robin Hood.
What Would Errol Think!?
February 12, 2010
What Would Errol Think!?
“Think of Errol Flynn in “The Dawn Patrol,’’ a tale of brave but doomed aviators flying their kite-like crafts in World War I – “roaring into each blood-red dawn . . . with death on their wings.””
“When the Germans drop a downed pilot’s goggles over stiff-upper-lipped British lines, a character says: “A very gallant gentleman died this afternoon. . .”
“[Today] it’s a far cry from Errol Flynn in his Sopwith Camel.”
— Tim
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