The Dawn Patrol stands out as my personal favourite of all WW1 films and also the best in Air warfare films. The plot is at once appealing and filled with wartime adventure. Two classmates from England enlist in the RFC and grow up in a short span (unusually a long period during the early years of the Great War) to become flying aces. Their daredevil aerobatics are admired and envied secretly by their stern commander Basil Rathbone who the duo nick-name as Killer brand as his duties are generally limited to send raw pilots against the war seasoned German Air Force. the plot is not far from depicting actual events of that period as one may read about the actions of pilots in the real RFC or Lafayette Escadrille and also the Red Baron. The stress of command thrust upon one of the friends strains and later destroys the friendship. It later is bonded in the untimely death of the Flight Commander who tricks his pal to undertake a suicide mission. Errol Flynn as the hero plays the part of the happy-go-lucky and later highly stressed commander with perfection. David Niven is adequate as the pal but it is Basil Rathbone who walks away with top honours as the original Flight Commander who envies the daredevil pilots while hating himself for sending raw pilots to their death. The scene where he hands over command to Flynn is excellent. Another actor worth mentioning here would be Donal Crisp who has the last word about the futility of war and the loss of valuable lives - certainly a line that does not age as it is relevant even today. This film is one of the rare ones that is entirely male and only hints at females but does not show them on screen. Edmund Gouldings direction is far superior to that of the earlier version but then he is helped by Errols strong charisma. On my list of the 100 movies one should see in his/her lifetime
Review of The Dawn Patrol
