Bardlerx Strictly average movie

AboveDeepBuggy Some things I liked some I did not.

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Sharkflei Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . you would think that being buried alive would be the least of a TEST PILOT's concerns WHILE he's airborne. Yet, whether Spencer Tracy was in the air (as in this flick), on land (during the SAN FRANCISCO earthquake), or at sea (think CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS), poor Spence was seen as being as expendable as an Indian Pony in a John Wayne flick by the MGM film studio owning his contract in the 1930s. MGM's disclaimer at the beginning of TEST PILOT states that anything remotely resembling an actual airplane during this film is a figment of viewers' imaginations. Just as MGM would refuse to "give away" the Military "Secret" behind "Sherman's Neckties" the following year in its GONE WITH THE WIND debacle, this studio believed that Japanese Plotter Tojo could be lured into Sneak Attacking America IF the Roaring Lion folks ran a scroll stating that ALL of TEST PILOT's aerial action was just so much Hollywood trickery and that the U.S. Military had NO warplanes at its disposal. (Tojo, of course, swallowed MGM's bait hook, line, and Pacific Fleet sinker, making TEST PILOT the deadliest Real Life Disaster in Tinseltown History.)

jacobs-greenwood A film which gives one a sense of what it must have been like in the early days of aviation as pilots were employed to test airplanes to their breaking point, just prior to World War II. Directed by Victor Fleming and co-written by Howard Hawks, the film received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Editing, and Frank Wead's Original Story.Clark Gable plays the pilot, Spencer Tracy his friend and assistant. During a failed time and distance flight for his boss (Lionel Barrymore), Gable meets Myrna Loy when he lands in her father's field. Even though she's somewhat engaged to a local boy (played by Ted Pearson), he sweeps her off her feet and they hastily marry.Loy's character then learns of the hazards and the heartache of being a wife of such a daredevil, especially after another in her husband's profession (played by Louis Jean Heydt) is killed. The title character turns to drinking. Tracy, Loy, and even Barrymore, must then work together to help Gable's character mature and perhaps utilize his skills in another more stable way.Noted character actors Samuel Hinds, playing a General who wants the most from the planes, Marjorie Main, playing a landlord the penniless trio (Gable, Loy, and Tracy) convinces to let them live in her apartment on account, and Virginia Grey also appear.

thinker1691 Victor Fleming directed this film called " Test Pilot " and although it is remade several more times, each has it's own quirks. In this version we have Clark Gable, playing Jim a fun loving, joy seeking test pilot out to tame a plane and the sky-mistress. Spencer Tracy, plays Gunner he dutiful, loyal side kick who tries to play guardian angel over his reckless best friend. Myrna Loy is Ann a beautiful farm's daughter who becomes his girl and later his wife. With Lionel Barrymore playing Drake, his employer, the film dwells mostly on the personal relationship between the main characters and their ambitions. As such the movie is a soft but lofty tribute to foolhardy aviators and dwells painfully on the personal aspects between those who fly and those who expect the inevitable disastrous outcome of a failed aircraft. Though Tracy and Gable are a great team in other movies, they seem at odds in this one. Still, for an early war time propaganda film, it's acceptable, but hardly a classic for either star. ***

raketex Yes, it did seem a little odd that the screwball style dialogue and wittiness at the beginning of the movie changed tone a little into the movie, but Myrna Loy was wonderful! She's what every guy would want - beautiful, upbeat, able to hold her own in a war of words and wills, witty, endearing, emotionally feminine, and a little flirty, all at the same time! If you liked her in the "Thin Man" movies, you'll love her here since it's more of the same - and yet a little more, since she isn't married at the beginning of the movie and that singleness adds a little to the flirtatiousness. What Myrna could do with those eyes of hers!No wonder it is said that this was Myrna Loy's personal favorite film of hers - she has many shots of her that are just downright flattering! How did they used to describe it? "Fetching," I think it was.Gable is the smooth-talking, brash egomaniac, able to do anything and charm anyone. Tracy I thought didn't have much of a role and was kind of pushed into the background.Although the real flying footage was good, the many "walking" and "driving" scenes in front of obvious rear-projected background film really cheapened the look of the movie.One of the most unintentionally funny lines, seen in today's light, is when Gable admonishes a somber Tracy during a post-victory drunken celebration. It went something like this, "You need to get gay. You might even shock yourself."