AMUSEMENTS

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 185, 22 May 1939, Page 4

AMUSEMENTS

“TEST PILOT” A motion picture now tells the story c-f the test pilot, the most daring of modern heroes who wager their lives against the strength of an untried airplane. “Test Pilot”, which screens at the Regent Theatre to-night, Tuesday and Wednesday, is the story of a man whose life is a constant gamble with death. It is strong drama, but so realistic and so authentic in all flying sequences that every aviator in the land will undoubtedly point to a milestone in the progress of motion pictures.

Clark Gable, Myrna- Loy, Spencer Tracy and Lionel Barrymore head the cast. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, in bringing their first aviation picture in more than two years to- the screen, spared notliing to make it the true story of modern aviation. That it contains thrills, dangerous dives and spectacular flying is due to the very nature of a man whose life is a. daily bout with death. Gable handles his part superbly, returning to the type of characterisation which has made him the - one star of the world. Myrna Loy, a an unsophisticated yet brilliant conntry girl, is the central figure of an unusual triangle.s 'Spencer Tracy, as Gable’s bosom pal and severest critic, has another powerful and dramatic role. Lionel Barrymore, here given his biggest role in years, once again proves an artistry which has made .screen history. The director-producer team of Victor Fleming and;Louis D. Lighton, so successful with “Captains Courageous,” has been re-united for the airthriller. To- insure authenticity in every detail, Paul Mantz, former co-pit- -< ot and navigator for Amelia Earhart, was retained! as technical adviser. The startlingly realistic air scenes were made possible by a newly-per-l'ected device for aerial photography, making “Test Pilot” the most spectacular aviation picture ever produced. The story, by Lieutenant-Command-er Frank We ad, is the factual relation of a test pilot’s life, uncensored, unemphasised. It tells of the aviator who marries an unsophisticated girl, against his pal’s advice, who takes this girl with him into the maelstrom of life which follows his path as the weaker eddies are drawn in by strong currents. The relation of her fights to win him away from the mysterious “lady of the sky,” the love of daring death, makes for some of the simplest, yet > most powerful dtrama that has been ;.. seen on the screen in many years.