My thoughts on this mediocre film (Spoilers!)

I watched this film because it was on the "100 Movies Everyone Should See Before They Die" list. I was disappointed.

The dog fighting scene was good, but went on a bit long. The bombing of the munitions dump was also well done, especially watching the bombs descending and hitting their targets. It was interesting (but also somewhat irritating) how the coloration kept changing. It was B&W for day scenes, color for the dance scene, blue for night scenes and then back to B&W. Very odd. Was Hughes trying to accomplish something there?

As for the rest of the film, the dialog was corny, the acting stiff, and the direction was poor. Harlow, as another poster mentioned, was a harlot. The most bizarre scene was the Zeppelin crew leaping to their deaths to save the ship. That was just insane. And when it was hit and went down in flames I couldn't help thinking "Oh, the humanity!"

At one point at the German HQ the film reminded me of the Marx Brothers' Duck Soup. And the death scene at the end was incredibly hammy.

All through the movie I kept wondering who the German General reminded me of. Then it hit me: he looks like Pee Wee Herman with a monocle! Could it be that he was one of Paul Rubens' ancestors?

Even granting that it was made in 1930, this was a mediocre film at best. I give it a 6/10. I have no idea how it's currently rated 7.8 here on IMDB.






Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar and doesn't.