. . . you would think that being buried alive would be the least of a TEST PILOT's concerns WHILE he's airborne. Yet, whether Spencer Tracy was in the air (as in this flick), on land (during the SAN FRANCISCO earthquake), or at sea (think CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS), poor Spence was seen as being as expendable as an Indian Pony in a John Wayne flick by the MGM film studio owning his contract in the 1930s. MGM's disclaimer at the beginning of TEST PILOT states that anything remotely resembling an actual airplane during this film is a figment of viewers' imaginations. Just as MGM would refuse to "give away" the Military "Secret" behind "Sherman's Neckties" the following year in its GONE WITH THE WIND debacle, this studio believed that Japanese Plotter Tojo could be lured into Sneak Attacking America IF the Roaring Lion folks ran a scroll stating that ALL of TEST PILOT's aerial action was just so much Hollywood trickery and that the U.S. Military had NO warplanes at its disposal. (Tojo, of course, swallowed MGM's bait hook, line, and Pacific Fleet sinker, making TEST PILOT the deadliest Real Life Disaster in Tinseltown History.)

A weak film. To see its shortcomings, just compare it to Howard Hawks' "Only Angels Have Wings," a masterful film made a year later dealing with many of the same emotional issues. For example, compare the death scenes in the two movies; "Test Pilot" is not in the same league. Clark Gable is too Clark Gable. He should have reigned in his persona a little more here; more subtlety in his character would have done the film a lot of good. But perhaps coming off of "Parnell," a good movie but a bomb at the box office where he did depart from his typical macho character, he was less willing to take chances. Here, he does his typical macho character to the hilt.Myrna Loy is severely miscast as a Kansas girl whose backyard Gable uses for an emergency landing. She just looks too elegant, refined. Seeing her yelling and getting all excited at a baseball game just seems so out of character for her; an embarrassing scene. And like Gable, she over-emotes during most of the dramatic moments. Subtlety goes a long way; just ask Spencer Tracy.Of the three stars involved, Tracy comes out the best. His acting is the most naturalistic. Too bad he doesn't have a character. Just what exactly is his character's deal? Why is he hanging around Gable so much, blowing kisses at him as he takes off, living with him even after he's married. Is he related to Gable or just gay? I for one really don't like the pairing of Gable and Tracy. All three films they made together are weak (the first 40 minutes of "Boom Town" are good, but the movie quickly falls apart after that). In each, Gable is the unabashed, reckless, macho man, while Tracy is the morbid, grumpy, moral compass. Both actors deserve better and get better on their own. Perhaps "Test Pilot" would have been a much more satisfying movie with just Gable or just Tracy; with them together, it doesn't get off the ground. A disappointment, considering all the talent involved, in front of and behind the camera.

I noticed this movie surfing around on TV and caught a glimpse of racing planes. My mom is from this era, married a test pilot(just after the war), who drank. So I asked her to watch it with me because she used to work for TWA in 1945 running weather data to the pilots. Amazingly neither of us had seen it before. We had a great time because this film has great acting (and lots of fast planes). It's no wonder they grabbed Clark for Gone With The Wind right after this film. He nails all his demanding scenes.very well. Their are moments of pure psychology in this one just like a lot of them from this period imo. Myrna Loy is pleasantly reserved and unpretentious and showed a wide range of acting. The script is quite clever, so it must of been easier for the actors to really act, and it shows. It's not hard to get absorbed in these characters. Spencer too, he's a pretty cool cookie here. During an exciting plane race, my mom asked how they filmed some of the plane stunts! I have no idea :-) very exciting indeed. Have fun.

The flying shots are often very good, particularly since they look to have been taken from another aircraft. The planes are antique, even by late 30s standards. The sleekest fighter resembles a P-36, already obsolete (vs. the Zero and the Me 109). The B-17 is the early model sans tail gun. Loy is an improbable farm girl and her conflict with the flamboyant Gable (in love with the wild blue dress yonder) is unconvincing compared to the witty interchanges with Powell in the Thinman films. Tracey, without a great part, shows how good he is. He just raises an eyebrow or lowers a lip -- no wonder Gable envied his acting! But watch this one as part of a "history of flight" course -- not necessarily how it was done back then but how it was depicted. And there is some truth to the mythology that inter-war flying in this country was done by a bunch of loners, rogues, and madmen. We were only a few years from the more mechanized approach to turning out pilots in great and necessary quanities, in schools where "training" was really done.