Flight Commander (1930)

The flight commander of a WWI British squadron making near-suicide runs behind enemy lines is getting angrier about their lot and his role in it. A couple of his hotdogging men do what they want instead of what’s commanded...and one of them gets a rude awakening when he’s handed the thankless job he disrespected.

I’m sure it was rousing and tragic in its day (backed up by its win for screenplay) but, from my vantage point, it felt overacted and thin. The flying sequences are impressive even today, but it’s basically the same story over and over: our assigned mission is IMPOSSIBLE and they’re just BOYS, I tell you! Some of the boys die, more boys come....that mission is impossible and they’re just boys, I tell you!

C+