The Last Flight

Richard Barthelmess, Helen Chandler, David Manners, Elliott Nugent, and John Mack Brown star in this excellent psychological war drama directed by William Dieterle about a handful of WWI veterans who do nothing but drink booze and run around Paris with flapper, Nikki (Chandler, in an elegant and moving performance).

What makes this film so special is that it's mood of despair of hopelessness has held up very well over all these years. Plus, the movie's bleak atmosphere and subject matter helps. Sometimes the performances (David Manners) and dialogue comes off as a little dated, but that is to be expected from a movie this old. It is very easy to overlook; and that is really the only bad thing about the movie.

It's a shame that this movie isn't released on DVD or even VHS (thank goodness for TCM). It's a real forgotten gem of early 1930's cinema that hopefully won't remain forgotten for long.

**** out of ****

WOW.... this film is excellent. The best "lost generation" film I've seen... perfectly captures the Hemingway/Fitzgerald feeling of hopelessness after WW I. It also boasts several terrific performances. Richard Barthelmess stars with the fragile Helen Chandler, Johnny Mack Brown, David Manners, Elliott Nugent, and Walter Byron as a group that boozes its way from Paris to Lisbon following the war.

Each has his/her wounds (physical or emotional) as they try to get their balance after the hideous war. Chandler's remark whenever she's confused is "I'll take vanilla." The film is full of wry humor and a deep sadness that is palpable.

Barthelmess is solid as always; Brown and Chandler are nothing short of superb. This is the first American film for German actor/director William Dieterle.

A must see film.

I came across this unheralded early William Dieterle film a while back and it blew me away. Quite an astonishing film for a 1931. I believe it was Dieterle's first Hollywood outing. It's a "Sun Also Rises"-like story of several ex-WWI American fliers living, relaxing and drinking in Paris and the wacky, free-spirited woman they "adopt" into their group. A truly unusual film--the dialogue is almost entirely in non sequitors which gives it an almost ahead-of-its time feel. The editing and the frenetic energy of it all are spectacular. It offers an accurate and immediate picture of post-war disillusionment of its time, the confused emotional/psychological state of the characters, much the same way Henry King's 1957 "Sun Also Rises" captured 1950s post-WWII mentality.

Dieterle is a talented stylist, and it shows all the way through, using fast-moving and inventive camera work. And it's beautifully photographed in that "German-looking" Expressionism early-1930s style.

The performances are top-notch. Richard Barthelmess is excellent as Cary Lockwood. Helen Chandler is quite distinctive as the leading lady Nikki. And I especially like David Manners in this film. He's one of the forgotten leading men of the 30s. Manners is best known today for his appearances in the Universal horror films, but he made a wide range of films--one of my favorites is his scrupulous secretary in love with a glamorous Kay Francis in Dieterle's other unheralded classic of the early 30s, "Man Wanted."

This early talkie was an exciting experience. The script was charming, the performances intriguing. Author John Monk Saunders managed to combine just the right touch of whimsy with the desperation and hopelessness of post-war life. The story was fascinating, a look at what was to become known as "The Lost Generation," or maybe already was so known by 1931. I hope Turner Classic Movies will show this movie again, and I would like to have a recording. A great cast with an excellent script directed by a master made "The Last Flight" a superb motion picture. I was moved and charmed. And I'm grateful for the chance to have seen it.

German Director had just segued past the shores of The Statue of Liberty from his native Germany when he made this movie, thus its European movie. Some plot-driven cineastes may argue that nothing happens in this movie but that is exactly the point. It is what is potently called a character study in the grand tradition of "new wave". Richard Barthelmess headlines a cast of five friends who after the end of WWI, disillusioned bythe events and their injuries wonder aimlessly, lolling and cajoling in Paris. They run into a female character played by Helen Chandler who is much like them, except she has hope for life. The first act or first hour has the characters chatting away at night clubs, cafes, nightspots and anywhere else delivering some of the wittiest remarks I've ever heard on camera. The relationships though are set up by an opening montage which is pure silent cinema with its MTV-style cutting and reliefing of images in juxtapositionIt sets the tone for the rest of the movie. The dark shades worn by the one of the characters, day or night adds to the phantasm of the whole scenario. A love story emerges between Helen and Richard and not so unexpected tragic occur before the end. Someone, earlier has noted a similarity to Hemingway's "he lost generation" novella, THE SUN ALSO RISES which was made into a fairly staid affair in the fifties with Ava Gardner, but this make no mistake is much better and one of the unknown gems of thirties cinema.