Edgar Allan Pooh . . . but Warner Bros. was hardly subtle in 1938 with this ode to Pacifism. Rather than foreshadowing Warner's CAPTAINS OF THE CLOUDS (micromanaged by War-time censors four years later), DAWN PATROL could be more aptly titled DEAD DUCKS DOWN. As mid-level officers grouse amongst themselves, the Royal Air Force sends a constant stream of fresh meat (in the form of teenagers with LESS than 10 hours of flight time) to the front lines, oblivious to the fact that 75% of them are dying on their first combat mission. No doubt a source of inspiration a few years later for the Japanese Kamikazi pilots of WWII, this "Lost Generation" is figuratively marched off a cliff, abetted by a virtual news vacuum in the Pre-Twitter days. Thanks to American heroes such as Zuckerberg and Snowden, a Western government would be hard put to stampede its Youth like mindless lemmings running off cliffs nowadays. Furthermore, since the U.S. was in a De Facto state of war with Japan in 1941, it's hard to view DAWN PATROL's two "heroic" sneak attacks on military ground targets as some sort of moral high ground above Pearl Harbor. If the post-Kitty Hawk military has any true heroes left, it's surely the folks on the ground who keep soldiering away despite knowing that sneaky aerial attacks can occur at any time.

LeonLouisRicci One of the last movies before WWII to have a "futility of war" theme like All quiet on the Western Front (1930). The nobility and bravery of these fliers would continue, but the negative psychological effects of men in war and the philosophical discussion of war itself would have to wait until the war that came after the war to end all wars.There are some outstanding aerial bombing scenes and dogfights (from the original 1930 Howard Hawks film) and the remake script called for some difficult acting and the entire cast delivers. Some say this is Errol Flynn's best performance and showed his seldom used ability to deliver a great real role with emotion and humanism, and that he was more than a handsome star with a seductive smile.

edwagreen Flying aces go out on World War 1 missions, while they know that many of them shall not return, especially the younger inexperienced pilots.Basil Rathbone is the squadron leader who appears to be sadistic in handing out the assignments. David Niven and Errol Flynn are at his throat regarding this. To get even with them, when Rathbone is promoted, he recommends Flynn as his replacement. Who comes along? Niven's younger brother, inexperienced and ready to fly. Obviously, Niven doesn't want him up in the air but there is nothing that Flynn can do. We have to follow orders, and it's duty above all. You don't have to be a wizard to next guess what occurs and who is blamed for this.Flynn takes to the skies to since he is upset with what happened to Niven's brother.This patriotic movie is a good one but is quite obvious from beginning to end.Interesting that this 1938 film starred Flynn, Rathbone and Melville Cooper. They all were in the Robin Hood film that same year.

daustin912 My father was the pilot of the plane that flew directly at the blimp when it exploded (allegedly on impact).Dad was payed $1500 for the stunt, filmed in California or Florida using American pilots. The pilot was Gene Austin, stunt pilot, delayed jump record holder 1935 and member of the flying team, I think they were called Hell's Angels (title of another movie) in this picture. Hughes used the same sequence in 3 pictures marketed in 1933. The stunt placed a dynamite charge in the nose of the aircraft which had a delay to ignite to be activated as the pilot left the cockpit. As the story was later published, the charge exploded just as the pilot had his foot on the seat to exit, was blown out of the plane and luckily was awake enough to open his chute. Gene Austin's scrap book and other docs are in the SanDiego Aerospace Museum. Gene Austin was born 4/06/1900 and died 7/9/52 of a cerebral hemorrhage.