Pilote d'essai

A strange movie from 1938 that has a major white elephant sitting squarely in the middle of the plot that is impossible to ignore from a 2016 perspective.

Clark Gable is the test pilot of the film's title, who falls hard for and marries farm girl Myrna Loy (Loy is about as convincing as a Wichita farm girl as I would be, but this is Myrna Loy we're talking about, so who cares?!!) Their courtship is treated as a screwball comedy, with Gable and Loy generating so much chemistry my television almost malfunctioned. But Loy struggles with the transition back to their everyday married life as she realizes the fear she feels every time Gable goes back to his job is something she has committed herself to for life.

The white elephant in the room is the character of Gable's mechanic and buddy, played with a scowl by Spencer Tracy. I don't know how anyone could watch this movie and not at least entertain the notion that Tracy's love for Gable is more than platonic. He seems to have no interest in women, or indeed in any life that does not include Gable. It's almost as if he and Loy have a tacit understanding that they're in love with the same man and agree to help each other through the trials and tribulations that come with that.

Gable is Gable. Loy has never been better. She wasn't challenged often and was even usually underused in my opinion, but this is her movie and she ably demonstrates her range. Tracy is utterly wasted. Indeed, if the homosexual subtext isn't intentional, then there is literally no reason for him to be in the movie other than to be someone to whom Loy can deliver her lines when she's not delivering them to Gable.

A mood of death and impending destruction overshadows the whole film. Whether or not this was an intentional reaction to world events at the time, it seems appropriate given the gathering shadow of world conflict that was growing in Europe.

"Test Pilot" received no Oscars but was nominated in three categories: Best Picture, Best Original Story (Frank Wead), and Best Film Editing (Tom Held).

Grade: B+

This film is essentially about testing planes for the war that anyone who even had a passing interest in international affairs knew was unavoidable, World War Two. The plot deals with the experimental phase of flying military equipment, of which the United States had inferior quality and little quantity in 1938. In the interest of progress, test pilots were willing to take to the air and strain both themselves and their equipment beyond normal bounds. The mythology is enhanced by the prologue in terms of the lack of the publication of "the specifications of government aircraft." It is probably just as well since America's enemies generally had better aircraft before the American involvement, except perhaps for the C-47 and the B-17. This initial disclaimer only sharpens the fiction of the film. The movie is worth a look if one is even mildly interested in aircraft lore.

Clark Gable is the one in the title role and Spencer Tracy is his best friend and mechanic. Test Pilot portrays a footloose and fancy free Gable doing a dangerous job because he's entranced by the beauty and danger of flying. Tracy is along to give him a reality check every now and then.

While trying for a coast to coast record Gable has trouble with a fuel line and has to make a landing in a Kansas wheat field that just happens to belong to Myrna Loy's parents. She's the farmer's daughter all right. Of course a little of that Gable charm and she's off in the wild blue yonder with him and spends the rest of the film worried about his daredevil behavior. She's not in Kansas any more.

This was the second of the three Gable/Tracy co-starrers. All three of them, San Francisco, Test Pilot, and Boom Town have withstood the test of time and have become classics.

Test Pilot's original story was written by Frank "Spig" Wead who's life story was brought to us in the film Wings of Eagles. Wead was a flyer himself until a fall in his home left him a paraplegic. After that he became a writer and several of his stories were filmed. In fact Gable and starred in Night Flight earlier on which was written by Wead. Of course Wead had a great feel for the type and character of the people who chose aviation as a career.

The aerial sequences are first rate and the players settle comfortably in their parts. It's got aerial action for the guys and romance for the gals. How can you go wrong?

A film which gives one a sense of what it must have been like in the early days of aviation as pilots were employed to test airplanes to their breaking point, just prior to World War II. Directed by Victor Fleming and co-written by Howard Hawks, the film received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Editing, and Frank Wead's Original Story.

Clark Gable plays the pilot, Spencer Tracy his friend and assistant. During a failed time and distance flight for his boss (Lionel Barrymore), Gable meets Myrna Loy when he lands in her father's field. Even though she's somewhat engaged to a local boy (played by Ted Pearson), he sweeps her off her feet and they hastily marry.

Loy's character then learns of the hazards and the heartache of being a wife of such a daredevil, especially after another in her husband's profession (played by Louis Jean Heydt) is killed. The title character turns to drinking. Tracy, Loy, and even Barrymore, must then work together to help Gable's character mature and perhaps utilize his skills in another more stable way.

Noted character actors Samuel Hinds, playing a General who wants the most from the planes, Marjorie Main, playing a landlord the penniless trio (Gable, Loy, and Tracy) convinces to let them live in her apartment on account, and Virginia Grey also appear.

Test Pilot surprised me with how good it is. As a love story, I rank it right up there with The Way We Were.

Clark Gable plays a test pilot, Jim, who lives hard and fast. Like many who live on the edge, he is superstitious and has an addictive personality. To cope with the risks he must take, he never deals with his feelings and drowns his fears in excesses of liquor and women.

Then he meets Ann, played by Myrna Loy--a fresh-faced, wisecracking Kansas girl who falls hard for the guy. Likewise, he falls for her and before you know it, they are married.

After they are married, Ann learns quickly what life with Jim must be like. It is a harsh reality that she cannot shake; she loves the mug.

Jim's sidekick is Gunner, a guy who also loves him but has learned to cope with Jim's short-sighted view of life. When Ann enters the picture, it becomes more than he can bear; he can endure his own pain, but cannot stand to witness hers.

We see a love story that can only end in pain, made all the more painful because all three characters are lovable.

The writing in this movie is among the best I have seen. There is not a false note in the entire film. It's difficult to write this kind of banter without making it seem false or shallow. Later in the film, when the going gets tougher, the writing conveys the feelings deep within even when they are talking only about the mundane.

It has been written that Myrna Loy liked this film best of all she acted in. Personally, I would give her the Best Actress award for this performance, though she was not even nominated.

Gable holds his own. And Tracy plays Gunner with a convincing subtlety.

Victor Fleming, who directed The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind the very next year, had another winner in this one. I am surprised it does not get much mention.