Saturday, May 25, 2013

DIVE BOMBER (1941)

Made prior to America's involvement in WWII, DIVE BOMBER is an extravagant propaganda piece filled with wall-to-wall with airplanes, bombastic music blaring, cigarette smoke, dedicated men willing to give the greatest sacrifice for their country and women who just love a man in uniform.  The story is pretty entertaining: a military doctor (Flynn) wants to solve the problems of altitude sickness, especially the blackouts that occur during a steep dive.  He enters flight surgeon school, but his dashing ways clash with pilot/teacher MacMurray (whom he had a previous run-in with) and senior doctor Bellamy.  After some headbutting they see how dedicated he is to the cause and help him.

DIVE BOMBER is dated, but I still enjoyed it.  The vivid Technicolor photography wonderfully captures all of the great older aircraft and Navy ships as well as the sprawling military base.  Strong acting and the interesting subject matter make the film fly by despite the 132-minute running time.  Is it historically accurate?  I have no clue, but it is a fun watch. Check it out!
As best I can tell this is the filming location.