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Dive Bomber |  | Director: Michael Curtiz
Actors: Errol Flynn, Fred MacMurray, Ralph Bellamy, Alexis Smith, Robert Armstrong
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $9.86
as of 9/5/2010 21:01 MDT details
You Save: $10.12 (51%)
New (11) Used (8) Collectible (1) from $9.86
Seller: Deals_Are_Us_Canada
Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 12382
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Subtitled, NTSC, Full Screen
Languages: English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Running Time: 132 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: WARD65915D
UPC: 012569591523
EAN: 0012569591523
ASIN: B000M2E30Y
Theatrical Release Date: August 30, 1941
Release Date: March 27, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 03/27/2007 Run time: 132 minutes Rating: Nr
Amazon.com
It's not the most he-manly endorsement imaginable, but Dive Bomber must be the prettiest aviation movie ever made. Errol Flynn, Fred MacMurray, and Ralph Bellamy top the cast, but the real star is Technicolor--in particular, a special Monopack developed to take the color process airborne without the cumbrous three-strip cameras used in the studios. Bert Glennon and Winton C. Hoch (once and future cameramen to John Ford) were Oscar-nominated for best color cinematography of 1941, but the flying footage was shot by Howard Hawks's aerial go-to guy Elmer Dyer (The Dawn Patrol, Only Angels Have Wings, Air Force) and Charles Marshall. For his part, director Michael Curtiz set up as many dialogue scenes as possible to include low-level flyovers by U.S. Navy Air Force squadrons. The onscreen results are often breathtaking (and beautifully served by the DVD mastering). The drama is something else again. Dive Bomber is a bridge between the carefree service comedy-dramas of the '30s and the combat-themed movies that would kick in following December 7, 1941. Warner Bros. knew war was coming (their 1940 Flynn swashbuckler The Sea Hawk had allegorically engaged Hitler!); the heroes here are the flight surgeons and test pilots racing to lick high-altitude sickness so that U.S. flyers would be able to get the drop on their Axis foes once "the main event" started. The best scenes are the lab tests, including an oxygen-deprivation experiment that makes striking use of Technicolor. But the script by aviation-ace-turned-screenwriter Frank "Spig" Wead alternates between two tiresome strategies: nonstop dissing of medicos Flynn and Bellamy by macho flyboys MacMurray and pal Regis Toomey, and low-comedy interludes deploring how exasperating women can be (Alexis Smith is a sacrificial victim in her stellar debut). In this last connection, John Ford's Wead biopic The Wings of Eagles would make an illuminating companion piece for Dive Bomber. --Richard T. Jameson
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 24
great story, fun to watch June 28, 2009
Thomas Cauley IV (Pullman Wa)
This movie was such a fun watch. it tied in the history of airplanes in with great actors and a fun plot.
this movie helped to show the real struggles that were taking place during this era. i would recommend that anyone who wants to learn about history and also watch a good movie buy this one!
A Great Film If You're an Aviation Geek June 21, 2009
Dan J. Dunn (St. Paul, MN USA)
I love this movie...but I'm an aviation geek and seeing this film in all it's restored technicolor glory is a real treat for me because I can sit there and say stuff like, "Wow! It's an SBU in pre-war colors!" and "Zow! That's great footage of a pre-war Naval Air Station--look at that PBY!"
If that doesn't switch your switch, and you don't know a PBY from SBU, then this film might not do it for ya. There are two problems that might confuse a "film buff" who sees this movie based on the quality of the cast. One, Fred McMurray and Errol Flynn are cast against type. McMurray is the dashing aviator and Flynn is the nerdy doctor/scientist. Right...
Forcing myself to remember that Flynn is the "brainiac" and McMurray is the fly-boy strained my brain. I don't know why they cast the film this way but I have a feeling that it was deliberate. You may find it intriguing, I found it distracting.
Problem two is the "plot." I'll give the filmmakers credit for not making this movie too sappy and avoiding allowing a "love story" to overwhelm the aerial action. No mushy stuff! But this movie is, without a doubt, for aviation geeks like me, and so the plot is a trifle confusing because the screenplay mixes up about a half-dozen different medical conditions and treats them as a single problem, and that's not accurate. That's like dive bombing in a...in a... in a PBY! The horror!
So, if you just happen to be geeky enough to know what G-LOC, nitrogen narcosis, altitude sickness, hypoxia and "the bends" are and what causes them, this movie will drive you to distraction because the script writers did not know and mix them all up. In other words, for a film about science, the science is a little weak.
But that won't matter unless you a real aviation geek--but who else is going to give this movie four stars?
Final answer--if you want to see a great color film from 1939 and and you care more about SBU's than ruby slippers or plantations, then this for you.
 Golden Wings are the Star November 24, 2008
WHL (Washington DC)
"Dive Bomber" has become somewhat of a cult film for aviation history buffs. The Hollywood quality color filming of Navy aircraft during the last days of golden wing schemes and some aircraft in pre-WWII gray make this DVD well worth it as a documentary. Now, if you are more inclined for film history and great past performances, I doubt thus will ever rate as a must see classic. Flynn's role as a dedicated Doctor with little other interest in wild adventure or women certainly makes an interesting footnote to casting, but otherwise, the aircraft have the most solid performance. That cigarettes play such a part in virtually every non-flying scene - no wonder these guys were passing out. Well worth it for aviation history but perhaps "Citizen Lame" for a classic film.
 Dive Bomber June 4, 2008
Robert B. Nelson (Webster, MA)
A bit hokey in spots but, as a whole, not a bad film. Errol Flynn has to prove himself to a group of pilots as he assists Ralph Bellamy in experiments to help pilots overcome high altitude sickness. He earns his wings and becomes totally absorbed in the trials. One by one, members of the group who opposed him at first are lost. But Errol will help save the day! Great aerial and ground scenes, I believe filmed at at San Diego. The colors are great. As an aircraft afficionado, it is great for me to see Grumman F3F's (from Air Group 6, USS Enterprise), Douglas TBD Devastators which gained a negative claim to fame as very few of them survived the battle of Midway, and early model Vought SB2U Vindicators. The aircraft are brilliantly painted in peacetime colors. Look for the British "fighter"! The studio used a fixed gear Ryan trainer and jazzed it up to make it look like a hot fighter. Why they put a cowling used on an air cooled engine on a water cooled plane is odd. The propellor spinner is at the top of the cowling whereas on an aircooled engine it would be in the center. Oh well, nobody's perfect. It's still a good movie, definetly worth the cost!
Dive Bomber DVD February 28, 2008
Kevin Wisniewski (Milwaukee, WI)
Difficult classic movie on DVD to find! Great price,fast Shipment, good communucation and the product arrived in good condition! What more could you want? Recommend this seller! Thanks!
Kevin
Showing reviews 1-5 of 24
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