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MGM, 1932.
Directed by George W. Hill. Camera: Harold Wenstrom, Harold
Lipstein. With
Wallace Beery,
Clark Gable,
Conrad Nagel, Dorothy
Jordan, Marjorie Rambeau, Marie Provost, Cliff Edwards, John Miljan,
Virginia Bruce. |
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"Windy" Riker, chief petty officer of the
aviation squadron on the U.S.S. Saratoga, loses his five-year claim
to the title of "champion dog fighter" when a young upstart C.P.O. named
Steve Nelson joins the squadron. Soon after meeting, Windy and Steve
engage in friendly competition as they try out a new vertical dive-bombing
technique.
Later, Windy, a notorious bully and
troublemaker, is arrested for wrecking a Turkish bathhouse. Windy is
spared punishment, however, when Jack Griffin, the commander of the unit,
intervenes on his behalf.
The friendly rivalry between Windy and Steve
turns bitter when Steve questions Windy's explanation of a flying mishap and
Windy punches him. When Ann Mitchell, Steve's sweetheart, visits her
beau to discuss his marriage proposal, Windy, angry with Steve for not
having been introduced to Ann, takes revenge on him by sending his friend
Lulu to start an argument between them. Lulu pretends that she is
Steve's ex-lover, which infuriates Ann and causes her hasty departure.
Following a mid-air collision which cripples
Jack, the squadron commander is retired, and Duke Johnson is appointed to
take his place. When Windy makes an aviation error, he is confined to
the ship while it docks in Panama. This prevents him from visiting his
sweetheart Mame Kelsey, but allows Steve, who knows Mame, to meet her on the
dock and share a carriage ride with her. Enraged, Windy sneaks off the
ship and follows them. When he finally catches up to them, Mame
prevents them from fighting and forces the two to make amends. As soon
as they are left alone, however, Windy and Steve engage in a fight, which
results in the destruction of a bar and Windy's arrest. Though Windy
is sprung from jail in time to make his ship's departure, he soon learns
that Steve will be replacing him as leading chief when his upcoming
retirement takes effect. Windy is crushed by the news.
During a mock battle drill, Steve's plane
crashes, leaving Steve and his pilot stranded on a rocky island. When
Windy and Duke discover the downed plane, they rescue the two at a risk to
their own safety, and Windy sets Steve's broken leg. Steve and Windy
resume their friendship as they wait for four days for a search party to
find them. With no sign of a rescue mission to save them, Steve
devises a plan to leave the island by having Windy fly the plane according
to his navigation. In order to lessen the danger of flying too heavy,
the injured Steve insists on riding the wing. Together, the servicemen
locate the aircraft carrier, but when the plane crashes onto the vessel's
deck it explodes, killing Windy. Following Windy's burial at sea,
Steve reads a letter that Windy wrote to him before his death. In the
letter, Windy reveals that Ann left him not because she did not love him,
but because of his deeds. |
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