The Dawn Patrol
About The Dawn Patrol
In France in the First World War, Royal Flying Corps pilots drink at night and fly at dawn. Aces Dick Courtney and Douglas Scott blame Major Brand for sending green replacements up in lesser machines. When German ace von Richter taunts them, they raid the German field against orders. Brand is called to headquarters and Courtney gets the squadron. He learns what the job is when four patrols a day are ordered and his objections are ignored. Scott's younger brother, a new replacement, is sent on the dawn patrol and killed. Brand returns with a mission far behind the lines. Courtney is forbidden to fly it. Scott volunteers. Courtney gets him drunk and takes the airplane himself. He shoots down von Richter on the way back and is killed by another German. Scott, now in command, reads the orders to the next batch of replacements.
Cast & crew
More about The Dawn Patrol
Howard Hawks directed his first talking picture from a story by John Monk Saunders, with a script also credited to Hawks and Seton I. Miller. Hawks, a wartime flight instructor, flies an uncredited German pilot. Ernest Haller photographed the film. After the 1938 remake under the same title, this version was reissued as Flight Commander.
Themes
Background
A pre-Code First National picture about a Royal Flying Corps squadron, released in 1930.
Making
Hawks put himself in a German cockpit for an uncredited pass. The squadron drinks, then flies, on a repeating schedule.
Look
Ernest Haller shot the field, the mess, and the dawn takeoffs. Hawks appears once as a German pilot.
Music
Leo F. Forbstein is the credited musical director.
Preservation
The film survives. After 1938 it was reissued under the title Flight Commander. A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- Richard Barthelmess plays Dick Courtney. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. plays Douglas Scott. Neil Hamilton plays Major Brand.
- Frank McHugh plays Flaherty. Clyde Cook plays Bott. Edmund Breon is in the cast.
- Leo F. Forbstein is credited with the music.
- The 1938 remake used the title The Dawn Patrol. This 1930 film then circulated as Flight Commander.
Awards
- Academy Award for Best Story (John Monk Saunders)
Scenes
- Courtney and Scott raid von Richter's field against orders.
- Scott's younger brother dies on the dawn patrol.
- Courtney drinks Scott under the table and flies the mission himself.
Influenced
- The Dawn Patrol (1938)
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (The Dawn Patrol (1930).webm)
