Saturday 29 August 2020

The Last Flight (1931 William Dieterle)

Came across this from a great review in Time Out ('more quintessentially Fitzgerald than anything Scott Fitzgerald ever wrote') - Halliwell gave it four stars. Little known 'lost generation' film opens with an amazing war montage, then in brief describes the experiences of our pilots in WW1. We pick them up, drinking all the while, and talking unified nonsense, in Paris 1919. Richard Barthelmess, David Manners, Johnny Mack Brown and Elliott Nugent are fascinated by Helen Chandler, and rather sweetly adopt her. Walter Byron is an annoying and slimy lecher / hanger on.

Some of the acting is a bit theatrical, but it's not a static film - the camera moves plenty, as does the film, which takes us to Lisbon, and the fates of the crew, who always order the same drinks as each other.

The surviving print is unfortunately rather dark. Sid Hickox shot it, for First National. Written by John Monk Saunders from his novel 'Single Lady'.





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