I wasn't expecting much but was pleasantly surprised at how the story was progressing after the start. Then the film petered out at the end.
In the beginning I found it unrealistic that the three pilots were ogling their watches with 5 minutes left until the 11am armistice....trying to get as many Germans shot down as they could before the war ends. There's bravado and then there's absurdity.
I liked the character development with the squadron men as they moved from drinking celebrations in Europe to hobos in the US. It's not hard to tell if Armstrong is portraying a drunken stupor or a sober adventure seeker in his dichotomous performance. McCrea is believable as an immodest bragger but even better with his spur of the moment proposal to "Pest". Dorothy Jordan("Pest") appeared to be more interested in Dix until that proposal came out of McCrea's mouth. Dix is good through most of the film but when the guys are confronted by the police inspector he looks totally lost in his motivation as he stares down the inspector not knowing what to say. Towards the end it looks as if this film was being made up as they went along....kind of like we did in grade school.
Von Stroheim also performed like a split personality, maybe split in more than 2 personas. I enjoyed his hammy death scene tho....so over the top it made me chuckle. He must have really loved attention. I'm not sure how realistic his directing role came across either. It appeared that when he started the war action, everything happened at once..planes, bombs, fires, artillery...and the cameramen where all together swiveling and shooting it all in one fell swoop....hardly a picture of well-organized direction.
It is too bad Astor's role did not get more latitude. It might have been more fun playing up her intentions with Dix instead of his attentions to Jordan's "Pest".
The ending? Well you will have to watch it to believe it. But don't expect to understand it. I wonder if it was made up as they went along....probably.
In the beginning I found it unrealistic that the three pilots were ogling their watches with 5 minutes left until the 11am armistice....trying to get as many Germans shot down as they could before the war ends. There's bravado and then there's absurdity.
I liked the character development with the squadron men as they moved from drinking celebrations in Europe to hobos in the US. It's not hard to tell if Armstrong is portraying a drunken stupor or a sober adventure seeker in his dichotomous performance. McCrea is believable as an immodest bragger but even better with his spur of the moment proposal to "Pest". Dorothy Jordan("Pest") appeared to be more interested in Dix until that proposal came out of McCrea's mouth. Dix is good through most of the film but when the guys are confronted by the police inspector he looks totally lost in his motivation as he stares down the inspector not knowing what to say. Towards the end it looks as if this film was being made up as they went along....kind of like we did in grade school.
Von Stroheim also performed like a split personality, maybe split in more than 2 personas. I enjoyed his hammy death scene tho....so over the top it made me chuckle. He must have really loved attention. I'm not sure how realistic his directing role came across either. It appeared that when he started the war action, everything happened at once..planes, bombs, fires, artillery...and the cameramen where all together swiveling and shooting it all in one fell swoop....hardly a picture of well-organized direction.
It is too bad Astor's role did not get more latitude. It might have been more fun playing up her intentions with Dix instead of his attentions to Jordan's "Pest".
The ending? Well you will have to watch it to believe it. But don't expect to understand it. I wonder if it was made up as they went along....probably.