After the successful production of MGM's lavish 1932 star-studded classic "Grand Hotel," MGM's "Night Fight" tries to recapitulate on this success but falls short in this dramatization of pioneer aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupery's early days of airmail flights over the Andes.
John Barrymore plays the general manager of an airline, operating in South America, a little too aggressively, and his brother Lionel Barrymore as the operations manager is the rule enforcing official. But unlike "Grand Hotel," where the major stars of the movie share common scenes, but in this movie the stars are not casted together. Helen Hayes is married to Clark Gable yet they never share the screen together. In fact Clark Gable is almost unrecognizable, and he is found usually sitting in the cockpit. Helen Hayes and Myrna Loy have performed splendidly in a limited role in this movie. Robert Montgomery is another pilot who has a more lively dialogue with Lionel Barrymore. MGM is known to make great all star classics in which stars get involved, we have seen them in "Grand Hotel," "China Seas," and "Dinner At Eight," but why they aren't too involved with each other in this movie. Why did MGM casted them together at great cost to the studios? The movie is essentially a two-man show.
The movie is supported by a great music score and beautiful flight photography in the air. The aviation footage is adventurous enough, but if you really want to see an adventurous movie about risky flights over the Andes in South America, I would recommend "Only Angels Have Wings" where Howard Hawks pilots very risky and more adventurous flights. Flying in the early days of aviation is a daring, and very scary around the snow covered mountains especially when it is covered with thick fog. In this regard this movie is interesting.
Reference: Night Flight - DVD, starring John Barrymore
No comments:
Post a Comment