Pilote d'essai

A good movie but alittle too sappy for my taste. It needed more aerial sequences and less Myrna Loy.

Did you know that in the fly-over showing a ball park has been indicated to be the legendary WRIGLEY FIELD of Chicago, Illinois?

Well, it's actually WRIGLEY FIELD in Los Angeles, California. Which was demolished in 1969.

Sorry, all you Cub fans, but it's not WRIGLEY FIELD in Chicago!

This movie highlights much of the information of early aviation.

As a side note, check out the credits, and you'll notice the name Frank Wead, Naval Academy grad. This dude was a total boss and helped promote United States Naval aviation from the beginning to the end of World War II, Commander Wead even got into writing movies. He consulted in over 30 of them, including the this flick "TEST PILOT".

I list this under my 'Best' category for the simple fact that it's one of the best 'Buddy' pics of all time.

Tracy and Gable had already been on screen together, and both had already been award winners, but this one was just fun.

The story allows them to play off themselves with great range, and adding Myrna Loy only helps. The interaction is coy, innocent yet feisty, and lays a lot of groundwork for what 'buddy' comedy films still strive for.

Paced fairly well, with just a dash of drama, the film hits on all cylinders and is definitely a popcorn movie.

If you like this one, don't miss 'Boomtown' either.

A strange movie from 1938 that has a major white elephant sitting squarely in the middle of the plot that is impossible to ignore from a 2016 perspective.

Clark Gable is the test pilot of the film's title, who falls hard for and marries farm girl Myrna Loy (Loy is about as convincing as a Wichita farm girl as I would be, but this is Myrna Loy we're talking about, so who cares?!!) Their courtship is treated as a screwball comedy, with Gable and Loy generating so much chemistry my television almost malfunctioned. But Loy struggles with the transition back to their everyday married life as she realizes the fear she feels every time Gable goes back to his job is something she has committed herself to for life.

The white elephant in the room is the character of Gable's mechanic and buddy, played with a scowl by Spencer Tracy. I don't know how anyone could watch this movie and not at least entertain the notion that Tracy's love for Gable is more than platonic. He seems to have no interest in women, or indeed in any life that does not include Gable. It's almost as if he and Loy have a tacit understanding that they're in love with the same man and agree to help each other through the trials and tribulations that come with that.

Gable is Gable. Loy has never been better. She wasn't challenged often and was even usually underused in my opinion, but this is her movie and she ably demonstrates her range. Tracy is utterly wasted. Indeed, if the homosexual subtext isn't intentional, then there is literally no reason for him to be in the movie other than to be someone to whom Loy can deliver her lines when she's not delivering them to Gable.

A mood of death and impending destruction overshadows the whole film. Whether or not this was an intentional reaction to world events at the time, it seems appropriate given the gathering shadow of world conflict that was growing in Europe.

"Test Pilot" received no Oscars but was nominated in three categories: Best Picture, Best Original Story (Frank Wead), and Best Film Editing (Tom Held).

Grade: B+

This film is essentially about testing planes for the war that anyone who even had a passing interest in international affairs knew was unavoidable, World War Two. The plot deals with the experimental phase of flying military equipment, of which the United States had inferior quality and little quantity in 1938. In the interest of progress, test pilots were willing to take to the air and strain both themselves and their equipment beyond normal bounds. The mythology is enhanced by the prologue in terms of the lack of the publication of "the specifications of government aircraft." It is probably just as well since America's enemies generally had better aircraft before the American involvement, except perhaps for the C-47 and the B-17. This initial disclaimer only sharpens the fiction of the film. The movie is worth a look if one is even mildly interested in aircraft lore.

Test Pilot surprised me with how good it is. As a love story, I rank it right up there with The Way We Were.

Clark Gable plays a test pilot, Jim, who lives hard and fast. Like many who live on the edge, he is superstitious and has an addictive personality. To cope with the risks he must take, he never deals with his feelings and drowns his fears in excesses of liquor and women.

Then he meets Ann, played by Myrna Loy--a fresh-faced, wisecracking Kansas girl who falls hard for the guy. Likewise, he falls for her and before you know it, they are married.

After they are married, Ann learns quickly what life with Jim must be like. It is a harsh reality that she cannot shake; she loves the mug.

Jim's sidekick is Gunner, a guy who also loves him but has learned to cope with Jim's short-sighted view of life. When Ann enters the picture, it becomes more than he can bear; he can endure his own pain, but cannot stand to witness hers.

We see a love story that can only end in pain, made all the more painful because all three characters are lovable.

The writing in this movie is among the best I have seen. There is not a false note in the entire film. It's difficult to write this kind of banter without making it seem false or shallow. Later in the film, when the going gets tougher, the writing conveys the feelings deep within even when they are talking only about the mundane.

It has been written that Myrna Loy liked this film best of all she acted in. Personally, I would give her the Best Actress award for this performance, though she was not even nominated.

Gable holds his own. And Tracy plays Gunner with a convincing subtlety.

Victor Fleming, who directed The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind the very next year, had another winner in this one. I am surprised it does not get much mention.