Category Archives: Reviews

Fantasy, Reviews, TEOTWAWKI

The Deepest Circle by Kevin G. Beckman

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THE WEIRD TALES OF SILAS FLINT

(THE FLINT ANTHOLOGIES BOOK 1):

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“This kind of Jazz isn’t exactly my style. Always makes me feel down, you know?” “Yes, I believe that is the intention behind this particular genre.”

 

When reviewing a collection of stories, we simply can’t expect every story to score 5 stars, but we hope that the average score will stay between 4 and 5 stars for quality consistency. 

However, when it comes to The Weird Tales of Silas Flint, I just wonder how long can Beckman keep this streak of 5-star gems!

 

The Deepest Circle is yet another success, by INFAMOUS🦀 standards at least. And here is why…

 

Plot Takes Front Seat:

Whereas our previous stories were more character and action-driven from beginning to end, this next story is more plot-oriented and more ‘cerebral’ if you will. Silas’ brother, Charles Flint, is planning BIG in order to gain power and defeat the Witch Hunters once and for all, this time with the aid of witch Lilian Turner (read The Gloom of the Grave for more info on this alliance). Meanwhile the Three Weird Sisters we’ve encountered in a previous tale (read Evil Never Rests for more info on the Proctor sisters) are once again establishing communication with both Silas and Ricardo with questionable motives. This is the second time our hero doesn’t know what to make of these three characters. Their intentions are foggy at best. Are they trying to aid Silas or just trick him in a very sophisticated fashion? What’s their agenda here, really?

 

New Characters:

We’re also introduced to new characters that will greatly affect the narrative, particularly Jennifer Edward aka Alice, a spy working for Charles Flint who is taking out Knight Templars in Fort Ingalls Chapter House at an increasing rate but eventually makes a few stupid mistakes which will help Silas Flint get ahead of his investigation.

Action:

We do see as much action, gun fights, and sword swinging later on in the story, but the pace is slowed down for the plot to build up properly. This was a bold move but in the end it worked out and the payoff was worth the wait.

 

Know Thyself:

This is the last story included in Book 1, and I walked away with the  strong opinion that this was a solid 5 stars from beginning to end. No, this is not groundbreaking fiction, but it does what it needs to provide a satisfying and enjoyable experience. This is due to the fact that Beckham clearly knows who he is as a writer and his transparency and candor are reflected throughout this book. He never tries to overreach or run too far off into the weeds in order to produce a better story, but instead capitalizes on what he knows best and builds on that. A lot of indie authors could learn a thing or two from him!

 

If you haven’t picked up a copy of The Weird Tales of Silas Flint, and you’ve been craving simple, wholesome, exciting pulp fiction, I strongly suggest you do so today, and let us know your thoughts on it!

🦀

Reviews, TRENDS DIE OUT; LEGENDS LIVE ON

TRENDS DIE OUT/LEGENDS LIVE ON

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~ by INFAMOUS🦀

In the upcoming series of reviews we will be tackling works of fiction which some of you may not be familiar with yet are INFAMOUS🦀REVIEWER recommended.

This series will focus more on books I consider to be absolute must-read masterpieces from different authors, eras, and genres.

 These titles are not necessarily the most popular or even the most praised from each of their respective authors, yet I always felt compelled to bring more attention to them and give them their deserved credit.

Authors like Mark Twain, Julian Hawthorne, and H. Rider Haggard will be part of our fun ride into this world of Legends. And when I say Legends I am referring to stories that-due to their content and   nature-will not and cannot ever grow old or become outdated. You can read these stories hundreds of years from now and their power will not have faded at all. 

I hope that if you are a writer and have never heard of these titles that you’ll read them and study them. If you’re just a fan of good stories like myself, I guarantee you these stories will find a way to your heart and soul in ways you might not even expect.

Modern trends live a short life before being replaced by other trends, but Legends are forever!

🦀

Stay tuned for the first review of TRENDS DIE OUT/LEGENDS LIVE ON: SARA WAS JUDITH by Julian Hawthorne

Reviews

The Earrings of Madame de… (1953) – a Review

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(Directed by Max Ophuls)

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The second pick on our list represents what some consider to be a masterpiece of French cinema. I tend to agree, though I hardly heed to what the experts usually have to say. 

Directed by German director Max Ophuls (who moved to France due to a little man with a funny mustache taking over Germany in the 1930s), the film is based on a 1951 novel by the same name. Though at first glance this may appear as a female-oriented movie, to  call it such would be a gross generalization. And for several good reasons.

PLOT:

The story revolves around these precious earrings owned by aristocratic Lady Louise, who’s married to Baron and Army General Andre. Things heat up when an affair begins between Louise and Italian Baron Fabrizio Donati. Now if at this point you are rolling your eyes, stay with me a little bit longer.

 

PRODUCTION/DIRECTION:

Due to the outstanding performances, unique camerawork, and clever dialogue, the audience easily gets sucked into this world of opulence, excesses, infidelity, and beauty. In a succession of rich, decorative displays, in all of this visual delight, the characters take on a life of their own, and they invite us to follow along. We start caring for them, fearing for them, even getting angry at them at times! Ophuls knows what he’s doing here, and in the hands of any other director this could have turned into a disaster.

 

THE EARRINGS:

The precious jewels, a gift from Andre to Louise, become the  nucleus of everything that happens in the story, and what was meant to be a valuable commodity quickly becomes a curse. The jewels change hands often throughout the movie, and in doing so it seems as though it is the earrings that control the narrative (think of the ONE ring from the writings of a very popular British author!).

 

THE PROTAGONIST and RANGE:

French actress Danielle Darrieux had the very difficult task to play the lead as Louise. And I say ‘difficult’ because this was a role where a woman could very easily try too hard to play the shallow high class lady and miss out on expressing those human traits that were necessary in order to propel the story to that next level. But she did such an outstanding job that in the end we  can’t help but feel for her fate. Her range is exactly what most actresses lack in Hollywood today. I’m frankly tired of all these one-trick ponies (no disrespect to women by that) that Hollywood keeps putting on the big screen. Darrieux shows such range in this performance that I guarantee, by the time the end credits roll, you too will feel for her character!

CLOSING REMARKS:

Story: 5 stars

Sets: 5 stars

Costumes: 5 stars

Lead Performance: 5 stars

Supporting Cast: 5 stars

 

I think that is good enough for closing remarks! Watch The Earrings of Madame de… and when you do, drop a comment whether you’re going to love it, hate it, or somewhere in between!

🦀

 

Fantasy, Reviews, Sci-Fi

Bridgehouse by J. Sebastian King – a Review

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Books like Bridgehouse by J. Sebastian King demonstrate that the indie scene can offer fiction literature that is as competent, as skillfully elaborated, and as professionally written as the best of them. 

This is a very ambitious project; it is vast, and complex, and it doesn’t hold back!

This is also not the type of story where everything gets spoon-fed to the reader. If you want a straightforward narrative, this might not be a good pick. If you want your mind to be stimulated and even challenged at times, pick up a copy today!

 

INITIAL DOUBTS:

Based on how the book is structured, I had my doubts that J.S. King would be able to pull it off, and this seemed (at first) like a house of cards about to crumble under its own weight. And here is why:

3 STORIES/1 BOOK:

Three separate storylines run parallel in this book, with three main characters each, for a whopping 700+ pages:

  • Captain Catherine A. Russo (classic sci-fi)
  • Lady Qona Itarte (space opera)
  • Pon er Lugal (sword and sorcery)

 

What I found annoying at first was how we keep getting thrown from one story to the next every few chapters, and with no apparent connections among all storylines. Obviously we know that these characters and locations must be all connected somehow but for quite a while we feel like we are reading three separate books, with the author dictating which one to read and when.

It’s only ¾ into the book that we start seeing clear links and connections, but the way it happens is so subtle that when it finally hits us we can’t help but be left in awe of what we are going to find out!

 

ATTENTION TO DETAIL:

King is very pragmatic in his approach to fiction writing and in some aspects he reminds me a lot of another author we have covered before, James Krake. These two are both very analytical writers who really stress all major and minor details of story writing. I was honestly waiting for King to slip at some point by trying to cover so much ground , but the guy doesn’t miss a thing; everything is accounted for, and no stones are left unturned. This can be particularly challenging given the scale of this vision–again showing that level of professionalism I mentioned earlier.

CHARACTERS/PROSE:

All main and supporting characters are well developed, they are all memorable and they feel ‘tangible’ to us because so much detail is revealed about them over the course of this story. 

The description of places, cities, buildings, mountains, rivers, and oceans is top notch, thanks to a prosaic style that comes off as seasoned and competent. Hard to believe this is King’s first publication!

 

MINOR ISSUES:

Only a few things I personally had minor issues with that are worth mentioning:

 

  1. Some of the language used in the ‘sword and sorcery’ story, with some F bombs and S bombs that at times felt out of place, especially on the lips of a character like Lilia (imagine LOTR’s Galadriel throwing S bombs if she got upset!)

 

  1. The military experience displayed by Qona Itarte in the ‘space opera’ story felt forced. Here is a woman with apparently 0 military experience; she is surrounded, outnumbered and yet always able to counter every move of the invaders on the battlefield.

 

  1. The English language used to create the native speech of some foreign tribes like the Nabadeans was hard to read at times, thus making some passages a chore to get through.

 

But again, these are just personal minor issues and pale in comparison to the awesome moments this sci-fi epic offers. They certainly don’t detract from the compelling aspects that make this a must-read work of fiction.

CONCLUSIONS:

What strikes me most about Bridgehouse is how professional it all comes across. It puts to shame not only a lot of indies but most tradpub as well. I look forward to book 2, but the real question is: is it going to be another 700+ pages with 3 books into 1? Just kidding of course! If King can capitalize on what he’s done here, I am convinced this could be one of the most epic fiction works of our times!

🦀

Fantasy, Reviews

THE SPHERAE OF ARKIMEDDON – a Review

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(Part 2 of a 6-Part Series)

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~I… I don’t think I can go any further,” she stammered as all turned back to her. “I’m sorry. I wish to remain here.” Rhoye strode back, holding his lantern close to her face, the panic in her eyes plain to behold. “She is terrified,” he said evenly, without judgement.~

 

Several reasons that I can mention as to why this second tale found in The Girl with The Fire in Her Hair is worth our praise:

 

ASTROPHO

First of all, this entire story originates from a mission accepted by Astopho–Rhoye’s best friend–from Crown Prince Antaxerces VI of Akhaemunsaar. Rhoye decides to tag along because he adverts his friend will need his help, or to at least keep him out of trouble. So in a sense we can say that Astropho is our main character while Rohye cordially takes up the role of supporting character. Which is great, given that the former possesses enough depth to carry on the leading role, which I pointed out ever since his appearance in The Isle of The Shrine of the Sick’ning Scarab.

SHIMEQA

A new character of particular interest is the Golemancer Shimeqa, a young and attractive girl ‘of ebony skin’ who joins team Astropho in their quest for the coveted Spherae of Arkimeddon. Here is where modern narrative would want us to somehow elevate this character among all others in the name of DEI based on gender and skin tone, but Mills takes the ‘sane’ approach instead, giving this girl a full spectrum of traits and emotions: tenderness, fear, doubt, courage. From the beginning to the end of the story we see her take her own path of growth and development in a way that feels organic and natural. This is character building at its best!

 

THE GOLEMS

These are more animated stones than humans, literally, and they can only come to life via the Golemancers, who have the superpower to control them. What the author accomplishes here is very interesting. He wants readers to acknowledge that these Golems are things devoid of human life, yet the situations he puts them through stir up emotions as for a beloved and loyal pet. We know they’re just ‘rocks that move’ yet we want them to make it through this adventure unscathed. Only a great writer like Mills could have pulled it off!

 

To wrap this up, The Shperae of Arkimeddon is vintage Wandered Lands action-packed adventure with a twist. Well thought-out characters, a traditional storyline, and sublime prose to tie it all up!

Another 5 stars for Mr Mills!

 Coming up in the next two weeks: The Giant’s Purse

Crime, Reviews

Gilda (1946 Film Noire Classic) – a Review

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Given the cinematic stool samples being laid in Homowood, Commiefornia in recent times, I am frequently more willing to pay to watch an old film than to risk watching a late-model movie for free. Unfortunately, it often seems as though I’ve already seen all the good ones. Then, once in a while, I discover a film like Gilda.

Gilda was directed by Charles Vidor and stars Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford. Were there no such genre as film noire to classify it, it would probably best be described as a character-driven drama.

What it’s About:

Johnny Farrel (Ford) is a gambler who uses loaded dice and card cutting/shuffling tricks to “make his own luck” and earn a dishonest living in Argentina. Early on, after an implausible winning streak at the blackjack table, he runs afoul of the casino’s owner: shady tungsten magnate Ballin Mundson. With no shortage of nerve, Johnny convinces Mundson to hire him to run the Casino.

(Mundson’s trust of Johnny, though not misplaced, is perhaps the least believable aspect of the story in this film.)

Soon after Johnny makes himself indispensable at the casino, Mundson surprises Johnny by introducing him to his brand new wife: the titular Gilda. By brand new, I mean the two met about a day before getting married. How could you not assume she’s a gold digger trading sex for access to Mundson’s fortune? Furthermore, it’s obvious to the audience and Mundson, right away, that Gilda and Johnny have a past, though at first they deny knowing each other.

So, there you have the classic love triangle, right? And being a film noire, you just know it will end in tragedy.

Characters/Acting:

George MacReady plays Mundson exactly like he probably should be played: gullible and petulant on the one hand while shrewd and dangerous on the other.

The Johnny Farrel role is a departure for Glenn Ford. I’ve never seen him play a devil-may-care wise guy before. And after the opening act, you won’t see that in this film, either. He reverts to the mature, responsible sort of personality we’re used to seeing Ford play. But he pulls off both sides of Johnny Farrel with aplomb.

What perhaps makes no sense is how Johnny risks his entrusted position with his boss to cover for Gilda’s frequent and casual infidelities. The two hate each other, after all.

You may have seen the now-famous shot that introduces (Rita Hayworth as) Gilda. Her head is bowed down out of the camera’s view, then she swings up into frame, flipping her long hair over and behind her to smile at Mundson’s top henchman. The smile fades as she recognizes Johnny and begins to seethe.

Rita Hayworth had a very attractive face and a killer smile, but was physically underwhelming in most other ways. For some reason, the actresses who get offered the ticket are rarely shaped like an hourglass. More like a test tube. Hayworth fits that mold.

Gilda gleefully cats around on Mundson through most of the film, but once in a while we glimpse a chink in her armor. As Mundson tells her, hate is a form of excitement. Put in modern parlance, hate can quickly boil over into lust. And boy, is there a lot of bad blood between Johnny and Gilda.

I was waiting almost from that introductory scene for Johnny to give in to an assumed obsession with (or at least lust for) Gilda, and be played for a chump by her–presumably for the umpteenth time. But the screenwriter mercifully avoids that predictable formula (possibly because it wasn’t yet the formula). Despite his ill-advised cover-ups for Gilda, he remains strong and, dare I say, honorable…up until the third act. Of course, many may disagree with me on all counts.

Dialog:

Film makers today are lauded as “edgy” or whatever for having actors spew blasphemy and F-bombs in between every other word. In the Movie biz of yesteryear, a lot was said beyond the sum total of the words spoken. Not just innuendo, though there was often plenty of that. In Gilda, we are never given a flashback, confession, or other exposition dump, but the backstory comes to us piecemeal, exclusively via implication or insinuation.

In a nutshell, Gilda hates Johnny for dumping her; while Johnny despises Gilda for cheating on him just like she is now so blatantly cheating on Mundson. It didn’t just wound his pride. It revealed to Johnny that Gilda is not even a human being, but rather a ruthless man-eating monster who belongs in the gutter or a whorehouse.

Theme:

Similar to what Alfred Hitchcock did in a couple of his suspense thrillers, Charles Vidor built this film around the duality of the three main characters. Each of them displays two opposed natures struggling within their personas. Or you could say each of them appear to be one sort of character, but are actually something else.

Twists:

There are unstable business execs accepting bribes, an omnipresent Argentine detective hovering all over casino business, two sinister Nazi agents, and a fatal plane crash.

But not everything is as it seems. In fact, very little is. I highly recommend you watch this classic and find out for yourself what is what.

Make sure you check back here every week to read Gio’s Top Five Film picks!

Action, Espionage, Reviews

Alt Hero Q to Date – a Review

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Alt Hero Q is one of the first Arkhaven projects, which preceeded the Arktoons website.

What it’s About:

It is a globe-trotting action spy thriller featuring a former Treasury agent recruited into an open source intelligence operation. He was one of the few honest agents left in the Federal Alphabets, who was nearly snuffed for noticing what should not be noticed. Now Roland Dane is tasked with investigating the blackmail of a scumbag politician, foiling the assassination attempt on a unicorn honest politician, and thwarting a plot to start a war between Russia and Ukraine.

That last plot thread was devised before the war in Ukraine began IRL. It shows you just how current and savvy the storyline can be at times.

How About that Title?

You have to be pretty sheltered to not have at least heard of Q by now.

If you still believe the Swamp Media and Uniparty scumbags, then “Qanon” is a dangerous domestic terror network which might do something horrible at any moment, meaning  American citizens need to surrender more liberty and give the traitors in Washington even more power. To keep us safe, of course.

If you bypassed the Swamp Media, researched it for yourself, and share the beliefs of the anons who followed Q, you think it is a rogue element within the Federal Leviathan which organized a counter-conspiracy to take down the traitors. They have a plan you’re supposed to trust in, which will result in mass arrests of the traitors who have hijacked our government with no, or minimal, bloodshed.

Many who once were in the latter camp are now convinced it was all just another psyop to keep us compliant. To keep us docile. To demoralize us yet again. To get us to self-identify as thoughtcriminals so we are easily targeted for the purges to come during the Great Reset.

Production Values:

Whatever the truth is behind the Q phenomenon, it is a great backdrop for an ambitious espionage/conspiracy thriller. But rather than some ludicrous formula about a unicorn honest MSM journalist chasing the story down to present the truth to the masses (who totally care about freedom, the Constitution, and our long-term future more than porn, social media and getting high), this is a story of a cellular network of patriots and just decent folks sacrificing their own time and resources trying to expose and bring down the Cabal. That’s pretty unique in the conspiracy genres.

Chuck Dixon scripted this tale (based on Vox Day’s general outline, I would guess) with a structure reminiscent of Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, but without the vulgarity. The characters and dialog are believable. I’m not exactly sure what the page count would be at this point, but it looks like the plot is nowhere near resolution, yet. Were this an Akira Kurosawa film, I would be confident that after this methodical buildup of tension and conflict, there will be a satisfying, gratifying, rip-snorting denouement to resolve the story arc and tie off all the loose ends. If I were a betting man, I’d say Chuck Dixon is a Kurosawa fan and this is exactly what he intends to do.

The artwork is good and compliments the story well. Sometimes it looks a little rushed, but even at that, I would still say the quality is high. Notice, in the panel above, how you know at just a quick glance that this is a night time scene–and you would know that even without the black sky at the upper left corner. The artist got the shadows from multiple light sources, and everything else, just right. I’ve looked at a lot of comic panels over the years and can’t remember a night scene done this well.

As with much of the Arktoons artwork, the artist sometimes “cheated”/saved time by using mostly empty panels, or zoomed in/out on a preceding panel to form a “new” one. It doesn’t detract from the experience and I would probably do the same, in their place.

You can read everything I’ve read for free on Arkhaven, and I recommend you do–all at one sitting so you don’t lose track of all the setting jumps. If I remember correctly, there will also be a crowdfunding campaign soon for a print version of Alt-Hero Q. Which means, hopefully, that the aforementioned climax has been scripted, drawn, inked, colored, and is ready for showtime.

Reviews

Last Year at Marienbad (1961) – a Review

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(Directed by Alain Resnais)

Reviewed by

The first movie on the INFAMOUS🦀 Top-5 Movie List is a visual spectacle with no equals. Directed by French visionaire A. Resnais, this masterpiece belongs to the French New Wave movie scene which came about in the 1950s and was characterized by new and unconventional shooting and editing techniques, creating something never seen before on the big screen.

 

PLOT:

The plot is as surreal as the visuals themselves: you have a splendid yet ethereal luxury hotel resort somewhere in Europe (Austria? France? Another reality?). Guests mingle and interact; a man converses with a woman claiming they met each other the year before, though the woman seems not to recall that. Everything feels slightly Stanley Kubrick-ish: is the woman dreaming all this? Is she even alive or a wandering ghost? And why does this entire hotel feel so strange even though we can’t quite put our finger on it?

CG vs REAL LOCATIONS:

Part of the initial effect that the sets have on audiences is due to a good chunk of filming taking place at the palaces of Schleissheim and Nymphenburg, including the Amalienburg hunting lodge, and the Antiquarium of the Residenz, all of which are in and around Munich, Germany. I’ll keep saying this until the cows come home: CG has ruined modern film-making. Real locations, particularly when it comes to historical locations, have a ‘life’ of their own, for lack of better terms. The shooting locations of Last Year at Marienbad not only provide the perfect backdrop for the actors’ performances, they become an additional character themselves. Whether you roam through the halls of this majestic building, or walk around its magnificent gardens, you just sense an otherworldly atmosphere at every corner.

THE PROTAGONIST:

French actress Delphine Seyrig plays The Woman at the center of this surreal experience (and yes, characters in this movie don’t have names, they’re just The Man, The Woman, The Second Man, etc.). For a movie to be a masterpiece of this caliber you need to have a lead that can carry and embody the spirit of the movie, and Seyrig does all that and then some! She can just look at the camera without speaking a single word and enchant an entire audience! The only present day actress that even comes remotely close to her is Nicole Kidman, perhaps. But I digress…

This movie absolutely required a lead actress who could convey emotions with her eyes and her subtle gestures: over-act a scene and you look silly; under-act a scene and the audience won’t be able to connect. Seyrig accomplished that marvelously!

FROM SCRIPT TO SCREEN:

Robbe-Grillet who wrote the screenplay jotted down every detail, specifying not only the dialogue and gestures and décor, but also the placement and movement of the camera and the sequencing of shots in the editing. Director Resnais filmed the script with great fidelity, and when Robbe-Grillet, who was not present during the filming, saw the rough cut, he said he found the film just as he had intended it, while recognizing how much Resnais had added to make it work on the screen and fill out what was absent from the script…

Which brings me to the next major point I want to make: a script should be adapted to screen in all of its authenticity and with no changes as to affect the nature of its content in order to appeal to particular groups or audiences or in order to not offend somebody. When a script has to pass through 3 or 4 different hands, chances are that what ends up on screen is just a mockery of what the original story wanted to be. A good director will only use his/her talent and skills to best express what the script wants to convey. That’s it. End of story.

CLOSING REMARKS:

In closing, Last Year at Marienbad remains one of the best yet subtle visual feasts in cinema today: it’s elegant, grand, stylish; yet dark, unsettling, mysterious, ethereal. 

Who are all these elegant people? What’s their story? Well, to this day fans of the movie still come up with exciting theories to such enigmas.

Watch for yourself, and let us know what your theory is. But make sure you don’t get lost while roaming through the halls of Marienbad!

🦀

*Make sure to watch the 55th Anniversary movie trailer (above)!

Reviews

The INFAMOUS Top 5 Movie Picks

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Though books have always been my primary focus of interest, as a lover of storytelling in general, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I would also mingle in the art of filmography.

Though I was born in the 70s, grew up in the 80s, and lived most of my young adult life in the 90s, and having witnessed the phenomena of your Star Wars Trilogy, your Godfather, your Lord of The Rings, to name a few-spanning over 3 decades of filmmaking-ultimately my heart gravitated toward a different crop of movies. These are films that precede my lifetime and yet have had the most profound effect on me and keep doing so to this day. I’m all for movies that ‘just entertain’, we need those too, but surely not at the expense of using the medium for soul-impacting, life-changing experiences.

So my top 5 picks that we will discuss in the next weeks are not just what I consider to be GOOD movies, but masterpieces that have impacted my life to one degree or another. These are movies that I can revisit over and over again, and still discover something new, or notice little hidden details which speaks volume of their richness in content.

Some of them you may have heard of…but I doubt it!

 

Top 5 Movie Picks (newer to older):

  1. Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
  2. The Earrings of Madame de… (1953)
  3. La Ronde (1950)
  4. Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)
  5. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

 

Join us next week for our first movie review and conversation (don’t forget to leave comments!):

Last Year at Marienbad (1961)

INFAMOUS🦀

Aviation, Military, Reviews

The Dawn Patrol – a Review

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What It’s About:

A British pursuit squadron suffers the attrition of air combat in WWI. Major Brand is in command, driven to drink and relentless stress by the young pilots he loses every day to enemy action. His “A Flight” Leader is Captain Courtney, who is a survivor and a skilled veteran pilot whose perspective will be forced to change before the movie is over.

Vintage:

This film was made in 1930. To put that in perspective, The Jazz Singer had been released just three years before. Audiences were no longer content with silent movies, and the Hollywood studios had been scrambling to adopt the new technology. This meant a new equipment needed to be installed in theaters, new recording equipment (capable of synching with cameras) needed to be acquired and used by every film crew, and a whole lot of expensive sound stages needed building on the studio lots.

“Talkies” were still in their infancy, but this one has got a better soundtrack than most.

Even though the entire industry now realized synchronized sound was the wave of the future, it still took a while for film makers to ditch certain practices that were no longer necessary.

Exhibit A: Intertitles. Dawn Patrol doesn’t have as many as a typical silent film–and none for dialog–but it’s got a few. The writers/directors evidently hadn’t figured out a way to give exposition without inserting text in between shots. Or they never even wondered about doing it some other way.

Exhibit B: Subtitles. They put one at the bottom of the frame whenever we see the villain in his cockpit.

Exhibit C: Acting. Some of the actors strike overly-dramatic poses, wear exaggerated expressions, and use jerky, exaggerated gestures. Many of them were veteran actors of the silent era and directors had conditioned them to emote that way. It must have been a tough habit to kick. It kind of grates, now. The film was remade in 1938 and I bet that one doesn’t suffer the same issues.

Exhibit D: Patience. This might not be directly related to silent movies or talkies. This film is just too methodical for the modern audience, in places. Folks back then were more easily entertained (not spoiled rotten with omnipresent entertainment) and had the attention span of a human being–not a gnat or a smartphone zombie.

Plot and Themes:

If you watch a lot of WWII movies, you’ll probably lose count of how many of them are built around certain tropes like individualists learning to do their part as a member of a team. This one thrums on “the loneliness of command” nine years before the invasion of Poland and 20-30 years before the trope became such a cliche` in war movies. For all I know, Dawn Patrol might be what set the precedent for several war movie tropes which are overly familiar today.

The audience is left to assume that the Germans don’t face the same problems as our heroes.  The Allies have manpower problems and material shortages, whereas the Germans don’t. In reality, it was almost exactly the opposite.

In fact, this type of story would better represent the German side. The best German aces were given such a workload that they were completely used up by 1917 or so. The constant stress, exhaustion, and requirement to accomplish much with little dulled their abilities and wracked them with sickness. Even the legendary Red Baron could barely keep his eyes open on his last few missions. (His stand-in in this movie is “Von Richter.” What movie about WWI air combat does NOT feature a portrayal of Manfred Von Richtoffen and his Flying Circus, I wonder.)

But, I mean, they’re bloody barbaric Hun savages with no appreciation for the value of human life. So who cares what problems they faced, eh wott?

Production Values:

Howard Hawks directed this. He was a prolific director who made some very memorable  films from the silent era right up until 1970. But this (his first talkie) feels like he’s just getting his sea legs.

(As a side note for the red pill and manosphere communities, his serious films depicted very masculine men and feminine women. However, in his comedies, he conformed to the mild gender confusion so popular in the postwar era that helped push our culture onto the slippery slope that led to the institutional gender insanity of today.)

The film probably had a pretty good budget. There are about three aerial combat sequences, including one in the opening scene. Aside from just a couple rear-screen projection shots, this was all real pilots in real planes doing this stuff. Considering that, some of the stunt flying is truly spectacular. I’ve watched my share of dogfight scenes in war movies, and this movie’s are better than most, and still hold up somewhat today.

But even big budgets have their limits. I wonder if that’s why most of the film involves the lonely commander and other personnel at the airfield simply worrying while waiting for the squadron to return, to find out who survived and who didn’t. That’s another popular trope in the genre. No doubt some screenwriters used it because they wanted an intense drama. But, like the stark lighting in Film Noire, budget constraints might have necessitated it in the beginning–so directors took that lemon and made lemonade.

My Take:

Considering everything I’ve mentioned, overall, Dawn Patrol doesn’t hold up that well today. I appreciate the limitations it was made under, and that it was a pioneer film that established precedents for the genre. Few others will. And the crude sound, outdated conventions, hammy acting, etc., are not justified by the story, which seems hackneyed and formulaic despite the fact that it wasn’t back in 1930.

If you have an interest in WWI air combat, you might want to also read my review of The Red Baron.