THE LOST SQUADRON (1932)

Very effective, very empathetic ‘lost generation’ story about three WWI fighter pilots (and their sidekick mechanic), survivors who’ve come home to lost jobs & lost gals, but stick together as daredevil stunt flyers for Erich von Stroheim’s tyrannical Hollywood movie director. The flyboys are Richard Dix, Robert Armstrong, a young Joel McCrea (towering over the rest of the cast), and Mary Astor as the ambitious actress who ditched Dix for career & marriage with the sadistic von Stroheim. The film, an early assignment for producer David O. Selznick during his wildly prolific year @ RKO*, shows Hollywood all but fully recovered from the silent-to-sound transition. Smoothly helmed by George Archainbaud, it’s loaded with excellent plane stunting (real & highly accomplished fakery), and some gorgeous cinematography from Edward Cronjager & Leo Tover. Look sharp for a couple of whacking good edits: one as a wire support gives way on a plane during a flight, and an edit/light cue on a trapped von Stroheim, his character half Howard Hughes and half . . . himself! And there’s some flavorful behind the camera stuff. Check out the cranking speed being used as a couple of operators turn the silent cameras used to shoot the stunt flying. (And isn’t that the old set from Doug Fairbank’s THIEF OF BAGDAD/’24 seen in the background when Dix is being rescued from an ocean crash?) Very Pre-Code, too. Not in the sex department, but from someone getting away with murder.

DOUBLE-BILL: *Selznick left his mark at RKO, 16 films over 1932-'33, including WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD; BIRD OF PARADISE; THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME; BILL OF DIVORCEMENT; THE ANIMAL KINGDOM; PENGUIN POOL MURDER; TOPAZE; even KING KONG.