Power Dive

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Richard Arlen, Don Castle, and Jean Parker in Power Dive (1941)

Bradley Farrell, an ace test pilot for McMasters Aviation Corp., breaks his leg when a new airplane crashes because it is too heavy to get off the ground. When Brad's younger brother Douglas... Read allBradley Farrell, an ace test pilot for McMasters Aviation Corp., breaks his leg when a new airplane crashes because it is too heavy to get off the ground. When Brad's younger brother Douglas, who just graduated with a degree in aeronautical engineering, flies in, Brad argues that... Read allBradley Farrell, an ace test pilot for McMasters Aviation Corp., breaks his leg when a new airplane crashes because it is too heavy to get off the ground. When Brad's younger brother Douglas, who just graduated with a degree in aeronautical engineering, flies in, Brad argues that flying is too dangerous for his brother. Brad arranges for Doug to be hired as a design e... Read all

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.2/10

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

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Featured reviews

3bkoganbing

Plastic airplanes

The dollar Bills of Paramount Studios, William Pine and William Thomas tackle a routine aviation drama something along the lines of Men With Wings and I Wanted Wings, A budget productions from their studio. Pine- Thomas couldn't do much with Power Dive however.

The usual aviation clichés are all present with the rivalry between brothers Richard Arlen and Don Castle over aviation and over Jean Parker whose father Thomas Ross has invented a new plastic plane that he wants to sell to the army.

That's not as silly as it sounds, if you'll remember Howard Hughes was also experimenting with a plywood airplane, the legendary Spruce Goose a few years later. Still when one says plastic airplanes I automatically think of the model ships and planes one glued together as a child back in the day.

It's a weak story and Cliff Edwards as the airplane mechanic and comic relief was singularly unfunny. Aviation buffs will like it, few others.

3planktonrules

Too cheaply made to be taken seriously.

"Power Dive" is a picture from Pine-Thomas Productions...a branch of Paramount studios that exclusively made B-movies. Bs were short and relatively cheap full-length films intended to he shown as a second film in a double-feature. Some Bs managed to be very good....many others were just cheap and forgettable...like "Power Dive"!

Richard Arlen used to be an actor in top-tier films, such as "Wings" (1927). However, by the late 30s and early 40s, he was making Bs by the dozen. Most were enjoyable...few were outstanding. "Power Dive" doesn't quite manage to be enjoyable.

Brad (Arlen) is a test pilot. His dream is to come up with a plane made from plastic parts...but until this finale there is a girl (Jean Parker) and a few forgettable story elements. During all this, you have the extensive use of recycled footage as well as some cheaply made aerial sequences. The word to remember for all this...cheaply.

So is this any good? Well, it's not horrible. But unless you adore Bs and watch everyone you can find (like me), it's really not worth your time.

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Trivia
The failure of the original copyright holder to renew the film's copyright resulted in it falling into public domain, meaning that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either severely (and usually badly) edited and/or of extremely poor quality, having been duped from second- or third-generation (or more) copies of the film.

Goofs
In the final test-flight, at the peak of the power dive, the pilot's scarf (and probably the observer's too) is seen to be tied back at full-stretch by a piece of string to make it look as though the airstream is strong.