The third of Frank Capra's military themed romantic triangles, Dirigible is the one that addresses my issues with character that happened in both of the earlier films, Submarine and Flight, and it ends up working better than either of the previous two. This is also probably Capra's most ambitious physical production with an impressive combination of special effects and real, documentary footage of airplanes and dirigibles all while much more effectively telling a character-based story in between. It's not great, setting up a lot of stuff that never really comes to any point while kind of lurching from one major direction to another, but the throughline is solidly good throughout.
Frisky (Ralph Graves) is a hotshot navy pilot who likes to show off by flying through hangers during airshows while his good friend Jack (Jack Holt) captains a dirigible, a lighter than air aircraft that still needs to prove itself to the navy brass. The prospect to prove the dirigible comes when the explorer Rondelle (Hobart Bosworth) asks the brass for help reaching the South Pole, something the brass recruits Jack for while Jack recruits Frisky. The problem is that Frisky's wife, Helen (Fay Wray), feels like she's only been married for two months to a man she wed two years ago, begging him to stay from any more extended trips. However, the prospect of something as grand as being part of the first team to reach the South Pole is just too much to pass up.
Where this film really sets itself apart from the previous two films in this unofficial little trilogy is in the characters. Helen may be less compelling than a Hawksian woman, but her concerns are well drawn while she runs into Jack's arms mostly out of desperation. He loves her already, and she feels like she can fall back on him if she were to leave Frisky. Frisky genuinely does love Helen, but he's torn between her and his need for glory. Jack does love Helen, but he's loyal to his friend. So, when Helen goes to Jack to try and get Frisky off the project, Jack does it because he loves her, Frisky is mad at Jack because Frisky wants to share in the glory. And where it really sets itself apart is when these people get into danger.
In the previous films, one of the two men would get into danger, along with several other military men, and the one left behind would dither, sometimes for days, about whether they should do their duty to rescue the men in trouble. When Jack's dirigible goes down in a story, Frisky doesn't hesitate and is the first man to find the fall aircraft. Later, when Frisky gets into similar trouble, Jack does the same. There's no pausing, despite their differences. They do their duty, and it makes both men, no matter whose side one might take, all the more appealing as main characters in this story of danger.
And the danger is kind of great. The destruction of the first dirigible is terrifying as a major storm steadily rips it in half and we see it from the inside out, complete with steel girders twisting like rope. The later sections set in the Antarctic are just as impressively staged (though a model is never not a model, though I do find model work adorable and love it all). I just kind of have this issue where the point of the film is the Antarctic, but they decided to name it after a kind of aircraft that's honestly not that much in the film. They were apparently trying to mimic Wings to some extent, even in marketing, so it's really a problem with how the film was sold than how it was made. Still, there is a certain change in focus as things move, focusing on the dirigible and its flightworthiness first and then the actual Antarctic expedition in the second half.
The film essentially becomes a survival movie in its second half as Frisky flies the expedition privately to the South Pole, gets ambitious, tries to land, crashes, and they need to walk the seven-hundred miles back. This all happens while Frisky carries a note with him from Helen that he's supposed to open upon his arrival at the South Pole where she announces that she's leaving him. That he completely forgets about it for weeks while walking back is...thin, but okay.
Another character who sets herself apart from her predecessors is Helen, torn over her loves and immediately hating herself for having written the letter once she gets word of the danger she's in. The resolution of all these little subplots is really good, the kind of smaller scale ending for three people intertwined in an adventure that works surprisingly well.
I just kind of wish that skyhook bit that got so much focus in the first act had some kind of payoff, you know?
Frisky (Ralph Graves) is a hotshot navy pilot who likes to show off by flying through hangers during airshows while his good friend Jack (Jack Holt) captains a dirigible, a lighter than air aircraft that still needs to prove itself to the navy brass. The prospect to prove the dirigible comes when the explorer Rondelle (Hobart Bosworth) asks the brass for help reaching the South Pole, something the brass recruits Jack for while Jack recruits Frisky. The problem is that Frisky's wife, Helen (Fay Wray), feels like she's only been married for two months to a man she wed two years ago, begging him to stay from any more extended trips. However, the prospect of something as grand as being part of the first team to reach the South Pole is just too much to pass up.
Where this film really sets itself apart from the previous two films in this unofficial little trilogy is in the characters. Helen may be less compelling than a Hawksian woman, but her concerns are well drawn while she runs into Jack's arms mostly out of desperation. He loves her already, and she feels like she can fall back on him if she were to leave Frisky. Frisky genuinely does love Helen, but he's torn between her and his need for glory. Jack does love Helen, but he's loyal to his friend. So, when Helen goes to Jack to try and get Frisky off the project, Jack does it because he loves her, Frisky is mad at Jack because Frisky wants to share in the glory. And where it really sets itself apart is when these people get into danger.
In the previous films, one of the two men would get into danger, along with several other military men, and the one left behind would dither, sometimes for days, about whether they should do their duty to rescue the men in trouble. When Jack's dirigible goes down in a story, Frisky doesn't hesitate and is the first man to find the fall aircraft. Later, when Frisky gets into similar trouble, Jack does the same. There's no pausing, despite their differences. They do their duty, and it makes both men, no matter whose side one might take, all the more appealing as main characters in this story of danger.
And the danger is kind of great. The destruction of the first dirigible is terrifying as a major storm steadily rips it in half and we see it from the inside out, complete with steel girders twisting like rope. The later sections set in the Antarctic are just as impressively staged (though a model is never not a model, though I do find model work adorable and love it all). I just kind of have this issue where the point of the film is the Antarctic, but they decided to name it after a kind of aircraft that's honestly not that much in the film. They were apparently trying to mimic Wings to some extent, even in marketing, so it's really a problem with how the film was sold than how it was made. Still, there is a certain change in focus as things move, focusing on the dirigible and its flightworthiness first and then the actual Antarctic expedition in the second half.
The film essentially becomes a survival movie in its second half as Frisky flies the expedition privately to the South Pole, gets ambitious, tries to land, crashes, and they need to walk the seven-hundred miles back. This all happens while Frisky carries a note with him from Helen that he's supposed to open upon his arrival at the South Pole where she announces that she's leaving him. That he completely forgets about it for weeks while walking back is...thin, but okay.
Another character who sets herself apart from her predecessors is Helen, torn over her loves and immediately hating herself for having written the letter once she gets word of the danger she's in. The resolution of all these little subplots is really good, the kind of smaller scale ending for three people intertwined in an adventure that works surprisingly well.
I just kind of wish that skyhook bit that got so much focus in the first act had some kind of payoff, you know?