Dawn Patrol, The (1938)

The Dawn Patrol is a good example of how a remake can improve on the original version. John Monk Saunders’s Oscar-winning story provides a solid basis for the efforts of screenwriters Seton Miller and Dan Totheroh. Though director Edmund Goulding stays safely within the guidelines of the war genre, Dawn Patrol shows the varying attitudes of the aviators toward combat, and particularly toward enemy pilots. Complementing the material is a star-laden cast led by the charismatic team of Errol Flynn and Basil Rathnone, and featuring solid supporting work from David Niven, Donald Crisp, and Melville Cooper. Brought to the screen with Warner Bros.’ customary high production values, Dawn Patrol provides an excellent showcase for its stars, representing another winning entry in Goulding’s prolific career.

1938, B&W, 103 minutes

Features

Warner Night at the Movies 1938 short subjects gallery: vintage newsreel, musical shorts The Prisoner of Swing and Romance Road, classic cartoon What Price Porky?, trailers of The Dawn Patrol and 1938’s Four’s a Crowd; Subtitles: English & Español (feature film only)