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.
Test Pilot
1938
Drama / Romance
Test Pilot
1938
Drama / Romance
Keywords: pre-codetest pilot
Plot summary
Jim Lane is a test pilot, whose professional life is dangerous, and whose personal life compensates for that danger by fast living and recklessness. As such, he lives from paycheck to paycheck, and is often in debt, but knows his lucrative job will eventually get him out of those debts. On a coast to coast record attempt speed flight, Jim's plane, the Drake Bullet (named after the company's owner),hits some mechanical problems and Jim is forced to make an emergency landing on a farmer's field in Kansas. The farm belongs to the Barton family, whose straight talking daughter, Ann Barton, falls for Jim, and visa versa. They impulsively decide to get married and live in New York. Jim's sidekick and mechanic, "Gunner" Morris, doesn't know if Jim and marriage go hand in hand, both because of the type of person he is and his profession. Ann too soon learns that she plays second fiddle to Jim's work, she referring to the sky as Jim's mistress. Ann also truly comes to understand the dangers of Jim's work, he who is often required to push the planes beyond their physical limits. With each flight, Ann fears that she will become a widow, as she has seen it before with the wives of Jim's colleagues. Can Jim and Ann's marriage survive the many pressures stemming from Jim's life as a test pilot?
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A Great Love Story
Smart movie, great acting
I just watched this for the first time. It starts as a light romantic comedy and becomes deeper as the story evolves. The dialogue is especially well-written, fast-paced and witty. Myrna Loy's performance is a stand-out - not to slight Gable and Tracy in any way! - with nuance that grows more complex as the movie progresses. I was particularly impressed by the screenwriter's skill in developing the relationships among the three lead characters; Tracy's gradual love and respect for Loy; Gable's discovering the depth of his feelings for her; and her struggle to be the wife of a man who constantly puts himself in harm's way. It's the kind of measured (thoughtful, not boring) film that rarely gets made today, when the emphasis would be on the action scenes. Just an excellent, intelligent film all 'round.
What Would You do if Clark Gable Landed in your back yard?
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?