Film Review
Having distinguished himself as both an actor and filmmaker in his
native Germany, William Dieterle began his highly productive period in
Hollywood with this idiosyncratic portrait of what Ernest Hemingway
referred to as the Lost Generation.
The Last Flight is far from being
Dieterle's best work - it is poorly scripted and dated by the
limitations of early sound cinema - but it nonetheless offers one of
cinema's most authentic depictions of post-war disconnection for those
who, having had all their illusions smashed to bits in WWI, fell apart
on their return to civilian life. The film is as evocative of the
Jazz Age as F. Scott Fitzgerald's
The
Great Gatsby, and it would doubtless qualify as a masterpiece
were it not for some atrocious dialogue and an overly melodramatic
ending that is far from convincing.
The eccentric carefree humour that runs through
The Last Flight provides a welcome
distraction from its clumsy attempts at moralising (which must have
sounded pretty dire even to a 1930s audience). An attractive
ensemble cast headed by Richard Barthelmess, David Manners and Helen
Chandler smooth the edges of a pretty risible screenplay and the result
feels like a forerunner of the classic Hollywood screwball
comedy. Most of the dialogue exchanges scarcely make any sense at
all and show that the protagonists have only the most tenuous grip on
reality, a poignant reflection of the indelible psychological harm
caused by the war. Made before the Production Code came into
force, the film also gets away with some pretty risqué
allusions, of the kind that would be unthinkable just a few years
later.
Whilst it was well-recrived by the critics,
The Last Flight was only a moderate
success at the American box office. John Monk Saunders, who wrote
the screenplay and the novel on which it was based, subsequently made
it into a popular Broadway play entitled
Nikki. Cast in the role of
Cary Lockwood in the original production of the stageplay was a young
British actor named Archie Leach, who immediately afterwards adopted
his character's first name and soon found fame under a new moniker -
Cary Grant.
© James Travers 2012
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Next William Dieterle film:
Scarlet Dawn (1932)
Film Synopsis
France, 1919. After the First World War, two American aviators,
Cary Lockwood and Shep Lambert, are released from hospital, still
emotionally and physically scarred by their experience of airborne
combat. The two men ignore the advice of their doctor to return
home and instead head off for Paris, hoping to drown their sorrows in
drink. Here, they hook up with two other war veterans, Bill and
Francis, and together they begin prowling the city's hedonistic
hotspots. In an upmarket night club, they meet Nikki, a wealthy
young woman who appears strangely detached from reality. Although
they can make little sense of anything she says, the four men warm to
Nikki and take it upon themselves to chaperone her. The happy
ensemble is troubled by an unwelcome interloper, who seems determined
to have his wicked way with Nikki. The party moves on to
Portugal, where a series of disasters will bring them back to reality
with a bang...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.